ULK1 and cancer: In the early stage of tumor occurrence, autophagy exerts a preventive effect in controlling or killing cancer cells, while in the formed tumor cells, autophagy could maintain the survival of cancer cells and promote development.205,206 In the following section, we will focus on the autophagy-related signaling cascade, namely, ULK1 complex, PI3KC1-Akt-mTORC1, Ras-Raf-MAPKs, p53, p62, FoxO, NF-κB, Beclin-1, etc. Meanwhile, we have discussed the research progress of the interaction between small molecule compounds and related signaling pathways in cancer treatment (Fig. 3).