ULK1 and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: In order to determine the role of AMPK in CPT-induced expression of p-ULK1 and inhibition of p-p70S6K in EC1 and EC109 cells, we used Compound C (an AMPK inhibitor) to inactivate the AMPK pathway and found that inactivation of AMPK significantly reversed CPT-induced expression of p-ULK1 in ESCC cells.