Autophagy, the process of bulk degradation of cellular proteins throμgh an autophagosomic-lysosomal pathway is important for normal growth control and may be defective in tumor cells. It is involved in the preservation of cellular nutrients under starvation conditions as well as the normal turnover of cytosolic components. This process is negatively regulated by TOR (Target of rapamycin) throμgh phosphorylation of autophagy protein APG1. ATG9B plays a role in autophagy and it's highly expressed in placenta and pituitary gland.