IL6 and cancer: For example, Jehn et al. (24) found that patients with major depression had higher cortisol concentrations relative to non-depressed patients both in the morning, at 8:00 a.m. and in the evening, at 8:00 p.m. Concurrently, Alesci et al. (39) found increased IL-6 concentrations in the morning among patients with major depressive disorder whilst Miller et al. (18) reported a correlation between cortisol blunting and IL-6 levels in patients in the advanced stages of cancer.