E2F2 and gastric cancer: Since E2F2 can regulate the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway and the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway plays an important role in autophagy [32, 33], we further investigated the relationship between E2F2 and the expression of autophagy-related proteins by transfecting GC cells with GV141-EE2F2 or siE2F2.