Interestingly, co-treatment of these two compounds much more potently induced autophagy in the breast cancer cells, as evidenced by the increased number and size of punctate structures in cells (Fig. 5), which are the feature of autophagic vacuole formation, higher levels of LC3-II turnover and p62 protein degradation, when compared to either agent treated alone. The gene discussed is SQSTM1; the disease is breast cancer.