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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Phosphorylated AKT expression in tumor-adjacent normal tissue is associated with poor prognosis in patients with
Yao-Li Chen1,2,3, Po-Ming Chen4, Ying-Zi Ming3
1School of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Abstract:
The AKT pathway serves important roles in tumor cell growth. Its overexpression is associated with poor prognosis in a number of types of cancer; however, the role of AKT in the role of the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. The present study was undertaken to explore the clinical relevance of phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) in HCC. The level of p-AKT in tumor (TU) and paired adjacent normal liver (AN) tissue from 202 HCC patients was evaluated with immunohistochemistry. The results demonstrated that p-AKT was more highly expressed in TU than in AN tissue. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression revealed that patients with a high expression of p-AKT (AN) exhibited reduced overall and relapse-free survival times; this was not observed at a statistically significant level in p-AKT (TU). Additionally, the high expression of p-AKT (AN) was positively correlated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in HCC patients. These results support the hypothesis that AKT activation is a mechanism of HCV-induced hepatocarcinogenesis, suggesting that AKT can be a therapeutic target for the treatment of recurrent HCC subsequent to surgical resection.
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