Tat-BECN1 protects against viral infections, by inhibiting HIV replication in human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) (Zhang et al., 2018) and memory CD4+ T cells (Zhang et al., 2019), and by inhibiting Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) replication in VeroB4 cells (Gassen et al., 2019). Here, BECN1 is linked to viral infectious disease.