Given the strong conservation of the insulin signaling pathway as a regulator of growth and metabolism throughout metazoan (e.g., much of the insulin signaling pathway was discovered from studies of C. elegans), we propose that neuronal cytosolic sulfotransferase activity functions broadly in neurohormonal signaling in mammals and that abnormalities in such signaling underlie a variety of human pathologies known to be caused by abnormalities in insulin signaling, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. The gene discussed is INS; the disease is type 2 diabetes mellitus.