5-HT1A function has a number of associations with other chronic diseases that are often comorbid with MDD, including coronary artery disease and obesity (Vickers and Dourish, 2004; Ramage and Villalon, 2008; Quek et al., 2017; Ho et al., 2018), and changes in 5-HT1A function are coassociated with changes in pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-17, and tumor necrosis factor – alpha (TNF-α) (Aune et al., 1993; Lu et al., 2017; Ng et al., 2018). Here, TNF is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.