Moreover, upregulation of the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway promotes expression of IL2, FGF2, and VEGFA, which aggravates inflammation, induces epithelial cell apoptosis, and increases vascular permeability and pulmonary edema (Kelly et al., 2002; Yu et al., 2016; Cheng et al., 2020). Here, VEGFA is linked to pulmonary edema.