BECN1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: As insulin resistance progresses, adipocyte autophagy is impaired in insulin-resistant states, in which type 2 diabetics demonstrate increased levels of autophagy-related proteins including ATG5, ATG7, BECN1, LC3-II, and LC3-I as well as autophagosome accumulation was observed in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue of non-diabetic obese and T2D patients as compared to lean individuals (Rodríguez et al., 2012; Kosacka et al., 2015).