VEGFC and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: We found significantly elevated VEGF-C protein levels in the SWAT of obese mice after 20 weeks on HFD compared to lean mice (lean: 0.40 ± 0.05, n = 4; obese: 0.61 ± 0.05 pg VEGF-C/mg protein, n = 4; p = 0.0009), suggesting that SWAT may be one of the sources of elevated VEGF-C levels in obesity (Fig. 1a).