Using an in vitro model of TGF-β-induced HK-2 cells, Yan et al. found that silencing Beclin1, a gene upstream of autophagy in HK-2 cells, reduced TGF-β-induced lipid deposition, suggesting that autophagy promotes lipid droplet formation in renal tubular epithelial cells in a Beclin1-dependent manner, leading to renal lipotoxicity and promoting progression of renal fibrosis (Yan et al., 2018). Here, BECN1 is linked to renal fibrosis.