AKT1 and Duchenne muscular dystrophy: Additionally, using western blot analysis, we found that NaB, similar to DFZ, prevented the increased phosphorylation (hence activation) of AKT, a negative regulator of autophagy (De Palma et al, 2014; Fig 4J), and concomitantly reduced the expression of COX2 (Fig 4K), which is considered a key therapeutic target to counteract inflammation in DMD (Péladeau et al, 2018).