Ascites from cirrhotic patients induces angiogenesis through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway

These results confirm the novel concept that ascites is a bioactive fluid which can modify vascular properties through the activation of the PI3-kinase/Akt pathway in endothelial cells. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that this ascites-induced mechanism is mediated, at least in part, by fibronectin.