As one of UBE2C-targeted cellular phenotypes, apoptosis is the type-I PCD involving the activation of catabolic enzymes leading to the formation of apoptotic bodies10–12, which suggests that autophagy, as the type-II PCD, may be coregulated with apoptosis signaling networks in controlling the autophagic apoptosis in cancer cells13,14. Here, UBE2C is linked to cancer.