Here, we proposed a hypothesis that EMD induces hypoxia in tumours by inhibiting PDHA, and hypoxia can lead to activation of activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), which maintains tumour cells in high levels of autophagy53; subsequently, EMD is degraded by autophagy, leading to the occurrence of pro‐invasive effects such as EMT. This evidence concerns the gene ATF4 and neoplasm.