These observations resulted in several questions, including 1) what were the adipocyte-secreted factors, which upregulate GAL-9 on the surface of human B-ALL cells, 2) how did GAL-9 impact the function of human B-ALL in adipose-rich microenvironments, 3) did GAL-9 require binding partners to impact the function of B-ALL cells, and 4) would targeting GAL-9 have therapeutic implications for B-ALL pathogenesis? The gene discussed is LGALS9; the disease is acute lymphoblastic leukemia.