AKT1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Previous reports have shown that the rat sarcoma virus (Ras)/Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway, the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling pathway are the major signaling pathways regulating cell proliferation and differentiation in HCC cells [17,18].