CDKN3 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: It also decreased the phosphorylation of AKT while increasing the activated form of caspase 3 hence, increasing apoptosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.[45] A recent work done on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma confirmed that the mechanism involved in the increase of tumor characteristics by CDKN3 such as migration, invasion, and cell proliferation was modulated through the activation of the AKT pathway.