AKT1 and gastric cancer: In addition, their studies revealed for the first time that protein C-E-Cad was highly expressed in GC, and that the TGF-β (transforming growth factor-beta)/Smad pathway increased the expression of C-ECad, which promoted tumorigenesis and invasion by affecting PI3K/AKT signaling to regulate the proliferation, migration, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition of GC cells.64