The latter function of BECN1 is supported by several genetic evidence, including but not limited to 1) Single allele deletions are frequently seen in breast and ovarian cancers (Aita et al., 1999); 2) Heterozygous deletions of BECN1 in mice lead to increased incidence of breast and other spontaneous tumors (Qu et al., 2003; Yue et al., 2003; Cicchini et al., 2014); and 3) Reduced BECN1 mRNA expression is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer (Tang et al., 2015). Here, BECN1 is linked to breast cancer.