ATG5 and cancer: While EMT requires autophagy to support viability of potentially metastatic cancer cells, a number of additional evidence indicates that autophagy acts to prevent EMT and that the activation of the autophagic machinery may determine reversion of the EMT phenotype in cancer cells.30, 31, 32, 33, 34 It has been shown that induction of autophagy by nutrient deprivation or mTOR pathway inhibition leads to reduced migration and invasion in glioblastoma cells,33 while autophagy impairment determined by silencing of ATG5, ATG7 or BCN1 results in an increment of cell motility and invasiveness.