If this is the case, it may help explain the limited clinical success of using the late-stage inhibitor hydroxychloroquine (the only clinically approved autophagy inhibitor so far) in combination with chemotherapy, and point towards novel early-stage autophagy inhibitors, like VPS34-IN1 and others, to hold greater promise for combination therapy with anti-cancer drugs. The gene discussed is PIK3C3; the disease is cancer.