Although we have used the respective autophagy agonists and inhibitors to observe the effect of autophagy on the foam cell development in Ox-LDL-treated THP-1 macrophages or the progress of atherosclerotic plaques in high fat diet Apo E −/− mice, we did not use foam cells derived from vascular smooth muscle cells, which are also important for atherosclerosis plaque formation and maintenance of the stability of atherosclerotic lesions. The gene discussed is APOE; the disease is atherosclerosis.