Deshmukh HA, Madsen AL, Viñuela A, et al. - Researchers conducted the investigation for understanding the genetic determinants of pancreatic beta-cell glucose sensitivity utilizing genome-wide meta-analysis and candidate gene studies. They carried out a genome-wide meta-analysis for beta-cell glucose sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes and non-diabetic individuals from 6 independent cohorts (n = 5,706). Using SNP and family-based analyses, beta-cell glucose sensitivity was moderately heritable (h ² ranged between 34 to 55%). After correction for multiple testing, glycemia associated SNPs in or near the HHEX and IGF2B2 loci were also linked to beta-cell glucose sensitivity. The authors discovered that variation at the GIPR-QPCTL and CDKAL1 loci are key determinants of pancreatic beta cell glucose sensitivity.