Autophagy mediates enhanced AMPK activity in human breast and cervical cancer cells (Hoyer-Hansen et al., 2007) and activated AMPK initiate autophagosome formation by activating PIK3C3/VPS34 complex or by inhibiting mTOR (Xie et al., 2016) and regulate ERK1/2 (Kim et al., 2012). The gene discussed is PIK3C3; the disease is cervical cancer.