AKT1 and colorectal carcinoma: The KEGG analysis results revealed that circIL4R was remarkably related to the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway (Fig. 5a), which has been reported to play an important role in CRC cell proliferation and metastasis [29–31]; thus, we inferred that circIL4R promotes CRC progression through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.