EPO and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: In mice, EPO treatment is associated with anti-inflammatory activity, neuroprotection, cardioprotection, skeletal muscle wound healing, protection against diet-induced obesity (Zhang et al., 2014; Suresh et al., 2019b), and bone loss accompanying EPO-stimulated erythropoiesis (Hiram-Bab et al., 2015; Suresh et al., 2019a).