In addition to their diverse functions in cellular metabolism, the PI3K–Akt, MAPK and AMPK pathways have also been widely involved throughout evolution in regulating physiological processes such as gene expression, mitosis, motility, proliferation, survival, apoptosis and differentiation, and they might be attractive therapeutic targets for diabetes, cancers and autoimmune diseases (Cargnello and Roux, 2011; Mayer and Arteaga, 2016; Olivier et al., 2018). Here, AKT1 is linked to cancer.