BECN1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved self-degradative process that removes damaged proteins and organelles to promote a cell survival response to nutritional starvation or stress conditions.50, 51 Overexpressed CD147-ICD promotes autophagy in parallel with an increase in the protein levels of beclin-1 and LC3B and with the accumulation of autophagic vacuoles in the cytoplasm in HCC cells (Figures 4l and 6c).