BECN1 and chronic hepatitis: To our knowledge, there are no data available on the behavior of Beclin 1 in chronic hepatitis (CH) and cirrhosis (CIRR), and very few as regards hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is one of the most common and lethal tumors worldwide, and a late complication of chronic viral hepatitis and cirrhosis in more than 80% of cases [16].