In a small cross-sectional study of 13 obese patients with T2DM, Haus et al. reported significant positive associations of plasma tumor necrosis factor-α with levels of plasma Cer(d18:1/18:0) and Cer(d18:1/18:1), but not with plasma Cer(d18:1/20:0), Cer(d18:1/24:0) and Cer(d18:1/24:1) [13]. The gene discussed is CBLN1; the disease is type 2 diabetes mellitus.