AKT1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Therefore, we suggest that through inactivation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, MST4 suppressed Snail1 expression, which led to the upregulation of epithelial marker E-cadherin and downregulation of mesenchymal markers vimentin and fibronectin, thus inhibiting the potential of EMT, invasion, and metastasis of HCC cells (Figure 5C).