MTOR and neoplasm: In a review from 2019, Tian et al. (2019) postulate that this result is due to the ability of mTOR inhibitors to lead to optimization of the tumor microenvironment, and that this could be inhibited with the addition of an autophagy inhibitor, which could explain synergy seen in pre-clinical models that have examined dual therapy with mTOR inhibitors and autophagy inhibitors, such as the results that Ronan et al. saw when combining everolimus with and VSP34 inhibitor.