Amylin is commonly found in pancreatic islets of patients suffering diabetes mellitus type II, or harboring an insulinoma. While the assosciation of amylin with the development of type II diabetes has been known for some time, a direct causative role for amylin has been harder to establish. Recent results suggest that amylin, like the related beta amyloid (Abeta) assosciated with Alzheimer's disease, can induce apoptotic cell death in particular cultured cells, an effect that may be relevant to the development of type II diabetes.