BECN1 and COVID-19: In the present study, we examined the levels of vitamin D, autophagy related proteins (Beclin 1 [BECN1] and autophagy related-7 [ATG7]), and inflammatory mediators (interleukin-1 beta [IL-1β] and tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α]) in serum samples of patients with COVID-19 and analyzed their correlations with clinical indicators to assess their potential roles in the pathogenesis of COVID-19.