Such findings and the reported mitogenic effects on β-cells (Michael et al., 1996; Borelli et al., 2005; Cox et al., 2015) support the notion that Reg proteins may serve as biomarkers (Astorri et al., 2010) and treatment targets for diabetes (Watanabe et al., 1994; Gross et al., 1998; Gurr et al., 2002; Li et al., 2010; Hou et al., 2011). The gene discussed is REG1A; the disease is diabetes mellitus.