BECN1 and cancer: The most important evidence linking dysfunctional autophagy and cancer comes from studies demonstrating that the inhibition of autophagy in mice, by disruption of BECN1, increases cellular proliferation, increases the frequency of spontaneous malignancies (i.e., lung cancer, liver cancer, and lymphomas) as well as mammary hyperplasia, and accelerates the development of carcinogen-induced premalignant lesions [12].