Similarly, Xue et al. observed that inhibiting Atg5 or Atg7 in a diethylnitrosamine (DEN)/HFD-induced liver cancer model elevated hepatocyte LDs and inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β), activating nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and STAT3 pathways, which facilitated liver cancer progression (Xue et al., 2016). This evidence concerns the gene ATG5 and liver cancer.