BECN1 and neoplasm: Furthermore, the expression level of the Beclin1 protein was downregulated in many types of cancers, and this suggests that there is a direct connection between Beclin1-induced autophagic cell death and tumor formation (Xia et al. 2013; Han et al. 2014), as well as Beclin1 is an autophagy gene that can be downregulated to significantly inhibit autophagy, protecting tumor cells from autophagic cell death and promoting the growth of tumor cells (Wang et al. 2007).