MTOR and hepatocellular carcinoma: Moreover, using the intraportal pancreatic islet transplantation model of hepatocarcinogenesis [12,13,14,15], we found the AKT (v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog)/mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) and the Ras (rat sarcoma)/MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) pathways to be activated throughout the development of CCF to HCC, where they play important roles as major oncogenic downstream effectors of insulin signaling [16,17].