ATG2A and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: Obesity increases the inhibition of autophagy (Namkoong et al. 2018), so the lower expression of ATG2A, a pro-autophagy gene, may be a consequence of high BMI. On the other hand, increasing autophagy by genetic or pharmacological mechanisms protects mice from obesity and sequelae such as insulin resistance and fatty liver (Namkoong et al. 2018), so higher expression of ATG2A may protect against obesity and consequent cardiovascular risk (Ortega et al. 2016).