BECN1 and leukemia: We confirmed in the present study that p62 was upregulated in the DR group, whereas beclin 1 and LC3-II were downregulated, showing that autophagy was suppressed in DR rats when exposed to high glucose levels, but beclin 1 and LC3-II were elevated after hesperetin administration, indicating the induction of autophagy, in accordance with a recent study that reported hesperetin-induced autophagy may protect cells against apoptosis by acting as an adaptive response in human leukemia cells [74].