A meta-analysis of blood cytokine network alterations in psychiatric patients: comparisons between schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression

By David R. Goldsmith, M. Rapaport, B. Miller. Molecular Psychiatry, 2016

1,529 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder (MDD) have all been associated with aberrant blood cytokine levels; however, neither the pattern of cytokine alterations nor the impact of clinical status have been compared across disorders. We performed a meta-analysis of blood cytokines in acutely and chronically ill patients with these major psychiatric disorders. Articles were identified by searching the PubMed, PsycInfo and Web of Science, and the reference lists of these studies. Sixty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria (40 schizophrenia, 10 bipolar disorder and 18 MDD) for acutely ill patients. Forty-six studies met the inclusion criteria (18 schizophrenia, 16 bipolar disorder and 12 MDD) for chronically ill patients. Levels of two cytokines (interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)), one soluble cytokine receptor (sIL-2R), and one cytokine receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) were significantly increased in acutely ill patients with schizophrenia, bipolar mania and MDD compared with controls (P<0.01). Following treatment of the acute illness, IL-6 levels significantly decreased in both schizophrenia and MDD (P<0.01); sIL-2R levels increased in schizophrenia; and IL-1RA levels in bipolar mania decreased. In chronically ill patients, the levels of IL-6 were significantly increased in schizophrenia, euthymic (but not depressed) bipolar disorder and MDD compared with controls (P<0.01). The levels of IL-1β and sIL-2R were significantly increased in both chronic schizophrenia and euthymic bipolar disorder. Overall, there were similarities in the pattern of cytokine alterations in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and MDD during acute and chronic phases of illness, raising the possibility of common underlying pathways for immune dysfunction. Effects of treatment on cytokines were more robust for schizophrenia and MDD, but were more frequently studied than for acute mania. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders.

Subfields: Behavioral Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry, Psychiatry and Mental health

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e46801104e0c3a2868962651fdb9b8c6e6adb90c

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In Behavioral Neuroscience

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Citations in the corpus

Inflammatory markers in depression: A meta-analysis of mean differences and variability in 5,166 patients and 5,083 controls (2020, background): “…of circulating C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin-12 (IL-12), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), and reductions in interleukin-4 (IL-4) in acute depression (Howren et al., 2009; Dowlati et al., 2010; Haapakoski et al., 2015; Goldsmith et al., 2016; Köhler et al., 2017).”
Prevalence of low-grade inflammation in depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis of CRP levels (2019, background): “There is now increasing evidence suggesting an association between depression and inflammation (Goldsmith et al., 2016).”
The Bidirectional Relationship of Depression and Inflammation: Double Trouble (2020, background): “It is important to note that aberrant blood levels of cytokines have been reported in other psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, raising the possibility of common underlying immune pathways among MDD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder (Goldsmith et al., 2016).”
Peripheral cytokine and chemokine alterations in depression: a meta‐analysis of 82 studies (2017, background): “However, our exploratory meta-regressions could have limited power to detect this effect, and previous evidence indicates that antidepressant drugs may impact peripheral cytokine levels at follow-up (50).”