Previous studies manipulating VEGFR-3 signaling in obesity have demonstrated that mice overexpressing VEGF-C in the skin have impaired metabolism in obesity and that systemic VEGFR-3 blockade reduces VEGFR-3+ pro-inflammatory M1 macrophage numbers in adipose tissue (Karaman et al., 2015, 2016). Here, VEGFC is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.