HGF and Insulin resistance: For the cytokines, the fit to the literature is difficult to decipher: 4EBP1 has been shown to have a protective effect in obesity in male mice [78], ENRAGE has been shown to be positively correlated with visceral fat adiposity [79], and elevated HGF levels induced by a high-fat diet have been shown to have a protective role against obesity and insulin resistance [80].