Finally, we experimentally validated the process by which a particular eQTL gene (NFATC4) regulates the expression of numerous putative downstream T2D candidate genes of two other genes of the same family, NFATC1 and NFATC2, which were also shown to regulate T2D related genes by previous studies.23 In particular, Nfatc4 silencing results confirmed similar transcription regulation pattern for these genes except for Igf2, which showed an opposite effect relative to the siControl condition. Here, NFATC2 is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.