ULK1, a serine/threonine protein kinase, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ULK1 gene. ULK1 is essential for the initial stages of autophagy. ULK1 is an important protein in autophagy. It is part of the ULK1-complex, which is needed in early steps of autophagosome biogenesis. ULK1 inhibition results in accumulation of stalled early autophagosomal structures, indicating a role for ULK1 in the maturation of autophagosomes as well as initiation.

ULK2 is essential for astrocyte transformation and tumor growth. ULK2 also inhibits the growth of glioma cells, which requires autophagy induction as kinase mutant of ULK2 fails to induce autophagy and inhibit growth. ULK2 and its homologue ULK1 are only down-regulated in all grades of glioma. Thus these results altogether suggest that inhibition of autophagy by ULK1/2 down-regulation is essential for glioma development.