Treatment of mice with α-MT is therefore expected to cause a decrease in the transport function of SLC6A14, but the observed protective effects of α-MT against DN seem counter-intuitive based on the published literature that SLC6A14 deficiency leads to diet-induced obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and fatty liver. This evidence concerns the gene SLC6A14 and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.