Ethyl gallate can directly bind and inhibit the activity of ERK1 and ERK2, thereby inhibiting the growth of esophageal cancer in vitro and in vivo (Liu et al., 2019); and reducing the activation of PI3K/Akt and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), leading to the repression of MDA-MB-231 cells proliferation (Cui et al., 2015). Here, AKT1 is linked to esophageal cancer.