AKT1 and cancer: The effects of nicotine primarily occur through its binding to, and activation of, cell surface nAChRs, in particular, the α7-nAChRs, stimulating a variety of cancer-inducing signaling cascades, including the PI3K/AKT pathway, increasing cell proliferation, promoting tumor progression, and resistance to apoptosis induced by different agents, significantly contributing to the oncogenic process [6,7,11,18,25].