Dissociation of inflammatory markers and natural killer cell activity in major depressive disorder
Abstract
Major depressive disorder is associated with increases in infectious disease risk as well as the incidence of inflammatory disorders. Declines of natural killer (NK) cell activity are reliably found in depression, whereas other studies report evidence of inflammation in depressed patients. The potential association between NK activity and circulating markers of immune activation has not been previously examined in the context of major depression. In this study, we measured levels of NK activity, circulating levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), soluble interleukin-2 receptor, and acute phase proteins in 25 male patients with current major depressive disorder and 25 age, gender, and body weight comparable controls. As compared to controls, patients with major depressive disorder showed lower NK activity (p = .05) and higher circulating levels of IL-6 (p < .05). Levels of NK activity were not correlated with IL-6 or with other markers of immune activation. The independent effect of depression on inflammatory markers and natural killer immune responses has implications for understanding individual differences in the adverse health effects of major depressive disorder.
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Increases in inflammation and decreases in other aspects of cellular immunity (e.g., natural killer cell activity) co-occur in depression.
“increases in inflammation and decreases in other aspects of cellular immunity (e.g., natural killer cell activity) have been found to co-occur in depression”
From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as Pike & Irwin, 2006
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- Authors
- Pike, J. L., & Irwin, M. R.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Irwin, Michael R.
- ORCID
- Irwin, Michael R.
- Venue
- Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-03
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 169-174
- ISSN
- 0889-1591 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2026889886
- Cited by
- 101
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain Behavior and Immunity (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA13239, R01AA013239)
- National Institute on Aging (AG 18367, R01AG018367)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-55253, R01MH055253, T32MH019925, T32 MH 19925)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA016541, DA 16541)
- National Center for Research Resources (M-01RR00827, M01RR000827)
- NIH Clinical Center
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Keywords
- major depressive disorder, NK cell cytotoxicity, interleukin-6, soluble interleukin-2 receptor, acute phase proteins, inflammatory markers, immune activation, infectious disease risk
- MeSH terms
- Acute-Phase Proteins, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Major Depressive Disorder, Humans, Killer Cells, Natural, Male, Middle Aged, Orosomucoid, Reference Values, Receptors, Interleukin-2, Biomarkers, Interleukin-6, Matched-Pair Analysis, Lymphocyte Count, Statistics, Nonparametric
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