STAT3 and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: Indeed, significantly higher expression of IL-6 was present in VAT of Gal-3 KO mice compared with WT controls, indicating that adipose tissue might be at least partly responsible for induction of the STAT-3 target genes SOCS-3 and SAA in the liver [21] However, caution should be employed in intepreting data on elevated hepatic expression of SOCS-3 in the context of the metabolic phenotype of Gal-3 KO mice, since liver-specific deletion of this transcription factor leads to fatty liver and obesity in the presence of enhanced hepatic insulin sensivity [32].