Considering that plaque levels of the three TGF-β isoforms correlated strongly with each other (r = 0.56–0.67, Supplementary Fig. 14) and that the cell phenotypes expressing the three isoforms are different, this suggests that even the extracellular TGF-β cleavage is affected in T2D. The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is type 2 diabetes mellitus.