A2M and type 2 diabetes mellitus: In particular, FOXA2 appears to play a critical role in restricting visceral adipose accretion in the LL, since it directly up-regulates expression of fibrinogen beta (FGB, a key blood-clotting protein), glucagon (GCG, a lipolytic pancreatic hormone), PCK1 (the key enzymatic regulator of gluconeogenesis), HMGCS2 (which catalyzes the first reaction in ketogenesis), two major transport proteins (ALB and TTR), and alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2M, a protease inhibitor and clinical biomarker of type 2 diabetes).