Moreover, the levels of red puncta from LC3 in response to nutrient starvation are similar in both control and REP1 siRNA-transfected MiaPaCa2 cells, indicating that pancreatic cancer cells undergo metabolic stress, harboring enhanced autophagy activity and showing autophagy dependency, even in nutrient-complete conditions (Figure 3E). This evidence concerns the gene CHM and pancreatic neoplasm.