In line with our results, previous studies associated IL-6 to decreased total brain volume (Jefferson et al., 2007; Marsland et al., 2008), and cortical atrophy in healthy controls (Baune et al., 2009), as well as in MDD drug naïve patients with reduced thickness in prefrontal cortex, a brain region characterized by a high expression of IL-6 receptors (Vitkovic et al., 2000), (Kakeda et al., 2018), in particular in ACC (Jefferson et al., 2007; Kakeda et al., 2018). The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is major depressive disorder.