To investigate whether autophagy blockade could block TNFα induced cell death, pTECs of two AB, one B2 and one B3 thymoma were pre-treated with either 25μM of the autophagy inhibitor, chloroquine (CQ), or 50μM of the pan-caspase inhibitor, Z-VAD-FMK or a combination of both agents before cFLIP knockdown or EF24 treatment. This evidence concerns the gene CFLAR and thymoma.