We found that in the patient groups with differences in PAK1, PAK4, PAK6, and PAK7 expression, the negative regulatory PI3K pathway was significantly enriched (P < 0.05), which indicated that the evaluated PAKs and the PI3K pathway may jointly participate in the regulation of the occurrence and development of GBM (Additional file 31: Table S7). This evidence concerns the gene PAK5 and glioblastoma.