Because of the established role of the RBP4-STRA6 pathway in diet-induced metabolic syndrome (Berry et al., 2013, Yang et al., 2005) and the results presented above on their role in CSC maintenance, we investigated whether the RBP4-STRA6 pathway could provide a link between HFD feeding and colon cancer stemness. Here, RBP4 is linked to metabolic syndrome.