However, evidence of activation of the specific Janus kinase-signalling transducer and activator of transcription 3 pathway in human adipocytes at a concentration as low as 2 ng/ml44 and other possible variables, including linkage with plasma protein and trans-signalling, lend support to the notion that the CNTF oversecreted in patients with morbid obesity may act on discrete cell types at specific sites and play adaptive metabolic roles. This evidence concerns the gene STAT3 and morbid obesity.