SFRP5 and diabetes mellitus: The KORA F4 study showed inverse associations between circulating SFRP5 levels and multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes and CVD, e.g., high BMI, HbA1c, systolic blood pressure, and low HDL cholesterol [10], while others have found that patients with type 2 diabetes had higher SFRP5 levels than patients without diabetes [11].