TNF and depressive disorder: The few studies that examined brain cytokine variations in relation to depression revealed that several pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines (e.g., IL-1α, IL-2, IL-3, IL-5, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12A, IL-13, IL-15, IL-18, IFN-γ, and TNF) were up-regulated in post-mortem frontal cortex of depressed patients who had died by natural causes or through suicide (Dean et al., 2010; Shelton et al., 2011).