We began our investigation of the drivers of autophagy-related PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in E. coli K1–infected HBMEC by hypothesizing that the NT playing a detrimental role in HBMECs' defense against E. coli meningitis may act as an infection-associated regulator of autophagy. The gene discussed is MTOR; the disease is meningitis.