MAP1LC3B and colorectal cancer: Sato et al. indicated that autophagy might provide an alternative source of energy through degradation of its organelles in colorectal cancer cell lines resistant to nutrient-deprivation culture conditions; they also showed strong LC3β expression in 59 of 80 colorectal cancer specimens at different stages (73.8 %) and in 0 of 65 samples of normal colorectal mucosa by immunohistochemistry and western blotting [12], similar to our data.