In line with our observations in the pancreases from patients with diabetes, exposure of islets to diabetogenic conditions in vitro led to a loss of Siglec-7 expression (Fig. 3G), in particular, treatment of islets with a mixture of 22.2 mM glucose/0.5 mM palmitate as well as with the cytokines IL-1β/IFNγ. This evidence concerns the gene IL1B and diabetes mellitus.