BECN1 and neurodegenerative disease: Cho et al., 2009 found that Beclin-1 links apoptosis to autophagy in HELA cells mediated by caspases (Cho et al., 2009). Autophagy is also associated with neurodegenerative disease and cancer promotion, suggesting the impact of Akap1−/− on autophagy (Sano and Reed, 2013).