As a pleiotropic protein, Galectin-3 has been reported to be extensively implicated in the regulation of multiple cell processes during tumour metastasis in several types of cancer.30–32 In the present study, we found that Galectin-3 induced HCC metastasis by regulating EMT and angiogenesis through activation of PI3K-Akt-GSK-3β signalling. Here, AKT1 is linked to cancer.