Recent studies have revealed that the activities of hCE1 are markedly elevated in obese individuals and patients with type 2 diabetes, and the treatment of hCE1 inhibitors displayed multiple beneficial effects in both lipid and glucose homeostasis in genetic and diet-induced mouse models of obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (Dominguez et al., 2014). Here, CES1 is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.