TGFB1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Whilst the above proteins associated with BMI, suggesting that BMI may serve as a surrogate for insulin resistance or increased adipokine activity, other proteins were BMI-independent, namely CD80 (p = 0.004), CXCL10 (p = 0.012), TGF-β1 (p = 0.02), and MMP9 (p = 0.03), indicating that these BMI-independent proteins may relate specifically to T2D.