SORT1 and diabetes mellitus: Indeed, in addition to its action at the endothelial level, sortilin controls lipid absorption from the intestine and regulates glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) storage vesicles in skeletal muscle and adipocytes, which is significant because a compromised translocation of these vesicles is involved in the development of diabetes; furthermore, sortilin mRNA and protein are downregulated in adipose tissue and muscle from obese ob/ob and db/db mice, and insulin resistance has been shown to induce hepatic sortilin degradation.