Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an ideal model to address this as (i) patient samples are easily accessible, (ii) the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) where transformation occurs is well characterized and (iii) loss of the key autophagy gene Atg7 in HSPCs leads to a lethal pre-leukemic phenotype in mice. This evidence concerns the gene ATG7 and acute myeloid leukemia.