One study found an enrichment of T2D-associated SNPs in PDX1 occupied sites located in the intronic regions of TCF7L2 and HNF1B. Hnf1β is involved in controlling proliferation and survival of multipotent pancreatic progenitors and deletion of the gene causes pancreatic hypoplasia (De Vas et al., 2015), while TCF7L2 has been identified as the locus conveying the highest risk for developing T2DM (McCarthy and Zeggini, 2009). Here, PDX1 is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.