Dysfunctional autophagy drives proteinopathic neurodegeneration across CNS disorders: Glial autophagic failure exacerbates amyloidopathy and tauopathy in Alzheimer’s disease (Litwiniuk et al., 2023), while mutant ataxin-3-induced autophagic flux disruption in Machado-Joseph disease (SCA3) is mitigated by Beclin-1 enhancement (Nascimento-Ferreira et al., 2011). The gene discussed is BECN1; the disease is Machado-Joseph disease.