To avoid any potential bias by background parameters, patients were matched from a pre-screened cohort of n = 67 for VAT-E2F1 protein level, age, sex, and BMI as follows: each triplet consisted of a patient with obesity and high VAT-E2F1 expression; an age, sex and BMI-matched participant with obesity and low VAT-E2F1 expression; and an age and sex-matched patient without obesity and with low VAT-E2F1 expression. Here, E2F1 is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.