IL6 and major depressive disorder: In the Kuopio Depression Study, Honkalampi and colleagues (Honkalampi et al., 2011) found that alexithymia was associated with high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) (a protein generated by the liver in response to IL-6 secretion by macrophages and T cells) as well as with adiponectin (a cytokine expressed in the adipose tissue).