Cai et al. proposed for the first time that argininosuccinate synthase 1 (ASS1) exerts its oncogenic potential by a mechanism of action related to the inhibition of lysosomal degradation of LC3-II in intrinsic autophagosomes and protection of cancer cells from chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis (Tsai et al., 2018). Here, ASS1 is linked to cancer.