As a cell compartment involved in HCC carcinogenesis [8, 9], hepatic progenitor cells expressing GITRL activate pathways of cancer, MAPK, PI3K/Akt and epithelial–mesenchymal transition by binding to ANXA2, which could enhance the progression of HCC [39–41] and many other tumours, including colorectal cancer [42], pancreatic cancer [43], breast cancer [44, 45] and prostate cancer [46], suggesting that GITRL may contribute to the abnormal transformation of hepatic progenitor cells. Here, AKT1 is linked to cancer.