ATG7 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Thus, a liver tumor develops in mice with tissue-specific or systemic mosaic deletion of autophagy-related 7 (Atg7) or Atg5, critical autophagy genes (8, 9), and the role of autophagy in the initiation or development of hepatocellular carcinoma has been an attractive issue appealing to the research interest of a number of investigators.