AKT1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Further investigation showed that activation of AKT phosphorylation led to a reduction in cell apoptosis that strengthened the EMT process that was impaired by si-DNMT3A (***p<0.001, Figure 9E, 9F), which proved that the HCP5/miR-29b-3p/DNMT3A axis played a role in AKT phosphorylation in regulating HCC progression.