CXCL12 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Our current study confirmed that EX-4-generated DEGs were enriched in the type II diabetes mellitus signaling, starch and sucrose metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, and alanine aspartate and glutamate metabolism signaling pathways, while the combination of SDF-1 and EX-4 could significantly activate more metabolism-related signaling pathways, such as the valine leucine and isoleucine degradation, insulin signaling, phenylalanine metabolism, and pyruvate metabolism signaling pathways.