INS and type 2 diabetes mellitus: Inflammation, tissue remodeling, and cytoprotection are all linked to activin A. Blumensatt et al. demonstrated that activin A released from T2DM patients’ epicardial adipose tissue inhibited insulin-induced phosphorylation of protein kinase B and its substrate by upregulating miR-143 levels, elucidating the role of activin A in metabolic disorders [43].