VIM and hepatocellular carcinoma: Furthermore, AMPK inhibitor Compound C treatment rescued FATP5-overexpression-mediated suppression of mTOR, S6K, N-cadherin, and Vimentin in HCC cells (Fig. 3D), while activating AMPK by metformin, a widely accepted drug against type 2 diabetes, blocked FATP5-deficiency-induced phosphorylation of the mTOR-S6K pathway and decreased the high levels of mesenchymal markers in Huh7 cells (Fig. 3E).