Therefore, for a better understanding of the clinical relevance of autophagy in the different stages of liver diseases, we analyzed the gene and protein expression of mTOR and LC3 and the protein expression of Raptor, ULK1 and p62 in a large number of samples obtained from patients with chronic disease, HCC, liver metastases from CRC and “histologically normal” liver tissues. This evidence concerns the gene ULK1 and hepatocellular carcinoma.