PDX1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: In the later stages of type 2 diabetes, loss of transcription factors such as PDX1 and beta-cell-specific transcriptional activator MAFA was reported (Hunter & Stein 2017), and some studies have linked these transcription factors to the insulin biosynthesis and secretion in murine islets and beta-cells (Hagman et al. 2005, Zhu et al. 2017).