ADIPOQ and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: Our group and others have recently reported that circulating adiponectin levels in vivo are inversely associated with the risk of malignancies associated with obesity and insulin resistance (Housa et al, 2005), that is, endometrial cancer (Petridou et al, 2003; Dal Maso et al, 2004), postmenopausal breast cancer (Mantzoros et al, 2004), leukaemia (Petridou et al, 2006) and colon cancer (Wei et al, 2005).