Insulin has been shown to promote cancer growth by increasing glucose uptake and utilization through the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway and cell proliferation by mitogen-activated protein kinase activation.[10] Insulin is a mild growth factor regulating cell division and inhibiting apoptosis, but its real risk for promoting cancer is its ability to potentiate the mitogenic actions of other growth factors. This evidence concerns the gene WNK2 and cancer.