AKT1 and cancer: Meanwhile, considering the GSEA results suggesting that ESCO2 might be involved in the regulation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, and given the frequent activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway in cancer and its crucial role in regulating cell cycle and apoptosis, we investigated how ESCO2 knockdown affected the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway.