Furthermore, incubation with HE serum caused a significant decrease in the phosphorylation of PTEN by 50% (p = 0.02) (Figure 2D), Akt by 50% (p = 0.01) (Figure 2G), and mTOR by 40% (p = 0.002) (Figure 2I) compared to the negative control. Here, PTEN is linked to hereditary elliptocytosis.