Forced uptake of glucose via overexpression of the glucose transporter (GLUT1) results in increased CD36 expression and increased cholesterol accumulation in macrophages overexpressing GLUT1 compared to control cells expressing an empty vector (28), potentially suggesting that the hyperglycemia observed in diabetes primes the macrophages to take up more lipids by increasing their expression of CD36. Here, CD36 is linked to diabetes mellitus.