MTOR and cancer: The rescue experiment by using the AKT (T308D/S473D) plasmid expressing constitutively activation of AKT and the subsequent functional assays indicated that reactivation of AKT/mTOR signaling significantly abrogated the effects of echinatin on apoptosis, proliferation, autophagy, migration, and invasion abilities of cancer cells (Figs. 3, 5), suggesting that echinatin exerts anticancer effects through AKT/mTOR-autophagy pathway.