AKT1 and cancer: Furthermore, quercetin promotes protective autophagy in cancer cells by forming autophagic vacuoles and acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs), activating autophagic gens, and inhibiting Akt-mTOR signaling and stabilizing HIF-α expression (Reyes-Farias and Carrasco-Pozo, 2019; Tang et al., 2020).