Akt, which is usually seen as an activator of EMT and an inhibitor of autophagy through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt-Snail/Slug and PI3K-Akt-mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathways, respectively, has also been regarded as a possible up-stream regulator of the JNK pathway in gastric cancer cells [33,34]. This evidence concerns the gene MAPK8 and gastric cancer.