DPP4 facilitates epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation and thyroid cancer cell metastasis by interacting with α4 and β1 integrin subunits to activate the transcription of the TGFB1 protein via the FAK/AKT/C-JUN/TGF-β signaling pathway (He et al., 2022). Here, AKT1 is linked to thyroid cancer.