Traditional Chinese medicine herbs have been reported to be able to inhibit the PI3K/AKT pathway and thus inhibit oesophageal cancer cell proliferation and promote apoptosis; for example, Liu et al. showed that ginsenoside Rk3 mediates apoptosis and autophagy by regulating the PI3K/AKT pathway and has anti-oesophageal cancer effects in vivo and in vitro48. The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is carcinoma of esophagus.