Bioinformatics prediction further suggested that miR-221-3p may directly target PTEN, which is usually inactivated in a variety of human cancers including PC, results in the activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway [32, 33] Activated Akt can promote cell proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis, but inhibit cell apoptosis, through catalyzing phosphorylation of a series of effectors [34, 35]. Here, AKT1 is linked to cancer.