Recent studies demonstrate that the expression of autophagy-related markers LC3 and Beclin-1 in TNBC subtype was the highest among breast cancers, suggesting constitutive activation of autophagy in TNBC.11 Given the threshold effect of autophagy distinguishing survival and death in cancer cells, we hypothesized that further facilitating autophagy with a small-molecule inducer may be beneficial for the development of a novel therapeutic strategy for TNBC. This evidence concerns the gene BECN1 and breast cancer.