Our recent study demonstrates that IL-6+ Th17 cells cause insulin resistance in T-cell-specific HGK conditional knockout mice without inducing obesity and that the differentiation of these pathogenic IL-6+ Th17 cells in adipose tissue requires a synergistic effect of IL-6 (from T cells) and leptin (from adipocytes) [17]. The gene discussed is MAP4K4; the disease is obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.