Dent and colleagues demonstrated that human colon cancer (HCT116) cells expressing different variants of ATG16L1, autophagy-proficient T300 and autophagy-deficient A300, have different levels of ACE2 and member 5 of the heat shock protein family A (HSPA5; also known as GRP78) proteins, which are both relevant for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The gene discussed is HSPA5; the disease is malignant colon neoplasm.