Abbreviations: ATG, autophagy related; FOXO1, forkhead box O1; FOXO3, forkhead box O3; GFP, green fluorescent protein; MAP1LC3, microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; PIK3CA, class I PI3K catalytic subunit the BECN1-PtdIns3K complex to promote autophagosome formation. 16,17 Recent evidence has revealed that the FOXO protein family members FOXO1 and FOXO3 promote autophagy. [18][19][20][21][22][23] In skeletal muscle cells, FOXO3 directly upregulates autophagy-related genes, such as microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (MAP1LC3) and BCL2/adenovirus E1B 19-kDa interacting protein 3 (BNIP3).19 FOXO1 has both transcription-dependent and transcription-independent roles in autophagy. In mouse cardiomyocytes, FOXO1 is deacetylated by the NAD-dependent deacetylase sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) that, in turn, induces the expression of the RAS-related GTP-binding protein RAB7A, which mediates the fusion of mature autophagic vesicles with lysosomes. 21 In addition, FOXO1 mediates starvation-induced autophagy through a transcription-independent mechanism in human cancer cells. We have previously observed that cytoplasmic FOXO1 is required for serum starvation-or H 2 O 2 -induced autophagy in cancer cells. Under these conditions, FOXO1 became acetylated and dissociated from SIRT2 in the cytoplasm, and the acetylated FOXO1, in turn, binds to ATG7 to promote autophagy. 23 Therefore, it is ©2012 Landes Bioscience. Do not distribute.www.landesbioscience.com Autophagy