Thus, we hypothesized that the diabetes observed in NOD.β2mKO.HHD.Ins2het mice was of an autoimmune nature, as is the case for the NOD.β2mKO.HHD parent strain [31], and not a deficiency in pancreatic insulin production due to the presence of only one functional copy of the Ins2 gene. This evidence concerns the gene INS and diabetes mellitus.