INS and Insulin resistance: Consistent with this assumption, a strong association of the rs139876191 variant with certain metabolic syndrome-related traits (i.e., high fasting plasma glucose, high body mass index, low HDL-Cholesterol, reduced insulin sensitivity) was observed in affected individuals of European and Hispanic-American ancestry, further supporting the notion that defects that negatively affect HMGA1 can play a role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome and other insulin-resistance related conditions (21, 141).