Fig 1: Up-regulated DDIT4 regulates the mTORC2/AKT signaling pathway. (A) Differential expression of the DDIT4 gene in the co-culture and A549 control groups was analyzed using qPCR, **P < 0.01. (B) The differential expression of DDIT4 protein in the co-culture and A549 control groups was analyzed by WB. (C) KEGG enrichment analysis based on significantly differentially expressed genes between the co-culture group and the A549 control group. (D) Compared with the control group, the expression of Rictor and phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) in A549 cells in the co-culture group was up-regulated. At the same time, the remaining proteins had no significant change. (E,F) qPCR similarly confirmed that the Rictor gene but not the Raptor gene was up-regulated in the co-culture group, *P < 0.05. (G) Silencing of the DDIT4 gene resulted in reduced expression of Rictor and p-AKT without significant effects on other proteins. (H,I) Overexpression of DDIT4 up-regulated the expression of Rictor and p-AKT1, which was inhibited by the addition of AKT inhibitor perifosine.