NANOG and neoplasm: With the reports on how TCL1A activates the AKT pathway as an adaptor that facilitates AKT dimerization and cross phosphorylation27, we found that NANOG cooperatively reinforces TCL1A-AKT signaling, a key pathway in multi-aggressiveness of immune-refractory tumor cells by up-regulation of HSP90A (Fig. 8i).