By comparing the cellular stresses and the INS expressions of the three datasets (Figs. 1 and 2), the following hypotheses may be proposed: T2D β-cells perform similarly to the healthy ones in INS expression under low cellular stress (dataset 1); T2D β-cells tend to be dysfunctional under the circumstances of high cellular stress (dataset 2); healthy β-cells can partly deal with high cellular stress, maintaining INS expression at normal level (dataset 3, Fig. 1c). Here, INS is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.