Diabetes 2013;62:2595–2604

We would begin by thanking both Dr. Engel (1)and Dr. Heine (2), as well as their colleagues,for their interest in our recent publication (3).Both collectives of authors raise issues re-garding the number of individuals studied and the age-matching of the incretin-treated versus non-incretin-treated groups of individuals with type 2 diabetes. We acknowl-edge that the study of pancreata from brain-dead organ donors with type 2 diabetes subject to either incretin (sitagliptin, n5 7; exenatide, n5 1) or no incretion therapy (n 5 12) is small compared with the large clinical studies undertaken by drug sponsors. We also accept the critique that the matching of the two diabetic groups does not meet the standards expected for a randomized clinical study. However, to the best of our knowledge, with the exception of a single case report (4), we believe our effort represents the first evaluation of human pancreata following anteced-ent glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1)–based therapy. W