Our recent publication has shown that yangonin, a kavalactone with a similar chemical structure to kawain, induces autophagy via inhibition of the mTOR pathway in bladder cancer cells [36] The phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mTOR pathway is the most frequently activated pathway in human urinary cancer. Here, AKT1 is linked to urinary bladder carcinoma.