BECN1-gene

Beclin-1 plays an important role in tumorigenesis and neurodegeneration by being involved in autophagic programmed cell death. Ovarian cancer with upregulated autophagy shows less aggressive behavior and responds better to chemotherapy.

Schizophrenia is associated with low levels of Beclin-1 in the hippocampus of affected individuals, resulting in decreased autophagy, which in turn results in increased neuronal cell death.

1. Liang XH et al. (1998) Protection against fatal Sindbis virus encephalitis by beclin, a novel Bcl-2-interacting protein. Journal of Virology 72: 8586-8596.
2. Liang X H et al. (2001) Beclin 1 contains a leucine-rich nuclear export signal that is required for its autophagy and tumor suppressor function. Cancer Res 61: 3443-3449
3. Takacs-Vellai K et al. (2005) Inactivation of the autophagy gene bec-1 triggers apoptotic cell death in C. elegans". Current Biology 15: 1513-1517.
4. Zhong Y et al. (2009) Distinct regulation of autophagic activity by Atg14L and Rubicon associated with Beclin 1-phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase complex. Nature Cell Biology 11: 468-476.
5. Valente G et al. (2014) Expression and clinical significance of the autophagy proteins BECLIN 1 and LC3 in ovarian cancer. BioMed Research International 462658. doi:10.1155/2014/462658.