For the gain-of-function experiments, after adipogenic treatment, overexpressing Ndrg1 in primary BMSCs stimulated adipogenic differentiation, which was evidenced by the enhanced oil-red O staining (49% increase of oil-red O retention in the cells) (Fig. 3A, B) and the induced mRNA and protein levels of the adipogenic factors such as PPARγ, C/EBPα, FABP4 and adipsin as compared to the infection of the control virus (mRNAs increased by 1.7–2.4 fold and proteins increased by 45–72%) (Fig. 3C, D). Here, CEBPA is linked to infection.