AKT1 and cancer: Since being discovered, SALL4 has been considered to be a biomarker and to play a vital role in the proliferation, apoptosis, invasive migration, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), chemoresistance, and the maintenance of cancer stem cells (CSCs) through various pathways, such as the NOTCH, Wnt/β-catenin, ERK, STAT3, NF-κB, TGF-β/SMAD, and PTEN/AKT signaling pathways (Zhang et al. 2015; Dirican and Akkiprik 2016; Ma et al. 2006; Nicolè et al. 2017; Tatetsu et al. 2016; Yang 2018; Oikawa et al. 2013).