An important part of cellular housekeeping is the bulk degradation of the cell's own proteins, known as autophagy. It can inhibit tumor growth and is expressed at decreased levels in human breast cancer. These findings suggest a new route to the development of cancer, via defects in autophagy pathways.
Cells undergoing autophagy essentially eat themselves.
It appears that beclin 1 may provide a genetic link between autophagy and negative control of tumor growth. This raises the possibility that treatments that restore autophagy in cancer cells could be beneficial. They noted that beclin 1 is similar to a yeast gene controlling autophagy and that it maps to a chromosomal section deleted in 40 percent to 75 percent of sporadic breast and ovarian cancers. This led them to study the gene's function and role in breast cancer. They inserted beclin 1 into a human breast-cancer cell line known as MCF7 cells.