As a member of the bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) family, BRD4 (bromodomain 
containing 4) can bind to acetylated histones and transcription factors, and is 
also able to recruit various transcriptional regulators. Previous studies have 
shown that BRD4 mainly plays a positive role in cell growth and cell cycle 
progression. In a recent study conducted by Sakamaki et al., the authors found 
that BRD4 acts as a transcriptional repressor in regulating 
macroautophagy/autophagy and lysosome gene expression, via binding to the 
histone lysine methyltransferase EHMT2/G9a. The oncoprotein BRD4-NUTM1/NUT also 
helps block autophagy and lysosome functions. A knockdown of BRD4 allows the 
retention of MTOR activity during starvation and significantly undermines 
starvation-induced cell death. However, BRD4 repression only contributes to 
stimulus-dependent autophagy and aggrephagy, and is not involved in other types 
of selective autophagy. Taken together, the newly reported repressive role of 
BRD4 in autophagy adds to our understanding of how autophagy and lysosome 
functions are regulated at the transcriptional level.