Under conditions of metabolic stress such as ATP deprivation, FOXO3a undergoes nuclear translocation triggered by the inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathway where it activates a repertoire of autophagy-related genes like ATG12, LC32/B, etc. These transcriptional events promote the initiation and maturation of autophagosomes, contributing to the survival of NSCLC cells under hypoxia, nutrient deprivation, or therapeutic stress. Here, ATG12 is linked to non-small cell lung carcinoma.