Furthermore, regardless of whether the recipient mice were CD44-deficient (top lines; #1, 2) or WT (bottom lines; #3, 4), they significantly enhanced the late (75 to 200 days post transfer) phase (top line; #2) or early (20 to 75 days post transfer) phase (bottom line; #4) of T1D when transplanted with CD44-deficient diabetic donor cells (Fig 2B). The gene discussed is CD44; the disease is type 1 diabetes mellitus.