Therefore, our study discovered a reciprocal feedback mechanism between the PI3K/AKT pathway and PPP metabolism (Fig. 7f), which not only orchestrates the partitioning of glycolytic intermediates to branching metabolic pathways to meet the needs of rapid tumor cell growth but also reinforces PI3K/AKT activation and aerobic glycolysis for cancer metabolic reprogramming. Here, AKT1 is linked to cancer.