Autophagy is a cellular mechanism that exerts antiviral effects in some virus-infected cells, while it can have opposite effects on some other cells. Rabies is an infectious disease caused by negative-stranded RNA virus. After the street Rabies Virus (RABV), the vector containing Beclin-1 were injected into the brains of mice. They were sacrificed to collect the samples. Next, the focus forming assay, TUNEL assay and q PCR were performed. The expression of MAP1LC3B, ATG5, and BECN1 genes and the relative mRNA expression of autophagy-related genes increased after in vivo transfection of the pIRES2-EGFP-Beclin-1 vector in test groups (p < 0.01). The number of viruses decreased in the brains of test group compared to the controls. Survival significantly increased in mice treated with the Beclin-1 containing vector compared to controls. The TUNEL assay did not indicate apoptosis. LC3 was notably expressed in the brain samples that were previously transfected with the pIRES-EGFP-Beclin-1 vector.