Intriguingly, 12 (57%) (HHEX, HNF1B, IGF2BP2, IRS1, KCNJ11, KCNQ1, NOTCH2, PPARG, TCF7L2, THADA, TSPAN8 and WFS1) out of 21 genes located in vicinity of these SNPs were differentially expressed in tissues from T2DM individuals/animal models as compared to healthy tissues (Additional file 1: Supplemental Table S2 and Figure 2). Here, HHEX is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.