A number of studies have shown that tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and antibodies can activate autophagy in cancer cells, such as imatinib29, 30, sorafenib15, 31, 32, crizotinib33, pazopanib34, 35, sunitinib35, 36, and cetuximab16, 37 etc. In our previous study, we reported that EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors gefitinib and erlotinib activate autophagy in human lung cancer cells17. The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is lung carcinoma.