Previous studies have shown that E. coli K1 activates PI3K/Akt in a time-dependent manner, with peak at 10–15 min of infection (Sukumaran et al., 2003; Zhao et al., 2010), and NT significantly promotes activation of Akt in HBMEC infected with E. coli K1 for 20 min (Chen et al., 2002). Here, AKT1 is linked to infection.