In liver cancer cells chronically exposed to low concentrations of cadmium, the activation of Notch and AKT/mTOR signaling pathways can induce the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and its downstream target TNF-α-induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8), thus regulating fibrosis and oncogenic signaling in liver cancer cells (Niture et al., 2023). The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is liver cancer.