Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) promotes anoikis resistance in cancer cells by stabilizing anti-apoptotic proteins like Mcl-1 and activating survival pathways such as Src/EGFR/ITGB1, PI3K/Akt, and MEK/ERK, facilitating anchorage-independent growth and metastasis. The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is cancer.