Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Apr 1:266:57-62.
doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.125. Epub 2020 Jan 23.

Prospective study on cytokine levels in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode major depressive disorder

Hojun Lee  1 , Minjae Song  2 , Jongha Lee  3 , Jung-Bum Kim  1 , Moon-Soo Lee  4
Affiliations

Prospective study on cytokine levels in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode major depressive disorder

Hojun Lee et al. J Affect Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests that depression is correlated with immune-inflammatory responses, and efforts have been made to identify the relationships between depression and inflammatory markers. This study investigated the level of cytokines before and after treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode MDD and compared them with the levels in healthy adolescents. The relationship between cytokine levels and the severity of depressive symptoms was also examined.

Methods: Twenty-five adolescents with MDD and 25 healthy controls aged 13 to 18 years were included in the study. Blood samples were obtained, and depression severity was assessed twice in the MDD group before and after treatment and once in the healthy group.

Results: When compared with healthy controls, adolescents with MDD had lower levels of interleukin 2 (IL-2), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and IL-10 before treatment and higher levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-10 after treatment. In addition, the IFN-γ levels correlated with depressive severity scores in both the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). The IL-10 level correlated with depressive severity only on the HDRS.

Limitations: The sample size was small, and the 12-week follow-up time after treatment was relatively short.

Conclusion: IL-2, IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-10 levels in medication-naïve adolescents with first-episode MDD differed from those in healthy controls. The levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, and IL-10 were altered after antidepressant treatment. Further, the IFN-γ and IL-10 levels correlated with the severity of depressive symptoms.

Keywords: Adolescent; Cytokine; Depression; First-episode; Inflammation; Medication-naïve.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest None.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources