These results indicate the suppression of autophagy caused by pneumonia in lung tissue because mTOR is known as a tight upstream suppressor of autophagy (via phosphorylation-dependent inhibition of ULK1/2), while LC3 and BECN1 are pivotally involved in the formation of the autophagosome and its fusion with lysosomes [46, 47]. Here, ULK1 is linked to pneumonia.