In multiple cancers, including HNSCC, expression of the autophagy related proteins microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta (LC3B), autophagy-related 5 (ATG5), unc-51-like autophagy activating kinase 1 (ULK1), BNIP and BCL2 interacting protein-like 3 (BNIP3L) is induced during hypoxia, indicating the importance for autophagy activation for survival [6,32,33]. Here, ATG5 is linked to cancer.