In addition, the ratios of the IL-6:sIL-6R and IL-6:sIL-6R:sgp130 complexes have been reported to reflect the level of IL-6 trans-signaling and influence the risk or severity of inflammation-related diseases, such as CVE and COVID-19 infection (Ziegler et al., 2019; Miri et al., 2021; Rodriguez-Hernandez et al., 2022; Li et al., 2023). The gene discussed is IL6ST; the disease is inflammation.