Immune system dysregulation in adolescent major depressive disorder
Open accessAbstract
Background A large body of evidence suggests that immune system dysregulation is associated with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in adults. This study extends this work to adolescent MDD to examine the hypotheses of immune system dysregulation in adolescents with MDD, as manifested by significantly: (i) elevated plasma levels of cytokines (interferon [IFN]-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin [IL]-6, IL-1beta, and IL-4); and (ii) Th1/Th2 cytokine imbalance shifted toward Th1 as indexed by increased IFN-gamma/IL-4. Method Thirty adolescents with MDD (19 females; 13 medication-free/naïve; ages 12-19) of at least 6 weeks duration and a minimum severity score of 40 on the Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised, and 15 healthy comparisons (8 females), group-matched for age, were enrolled. Plasma cytokines were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Mann-Whitney test was used to compare subjects with MDD and controls. Results Adolescents with MDD had significantly elevated plasma IFN-gamma levels (3.38+/-11.8 pg/ml versus 0.37+/-0.64 pg/ml; p<0.003), and IFN-gamma/IL-4 ratio (16.6+/-56.5 versus 1.76+/-2.28; p=0.007). A trend for IL-6 to be elevated in the MDD group was also observed (1.52+/-2.88 pg/ml versus 0.49+/-0.90 pg/ml; p=0.09). Importantly, findings remained evident when medicated subjects were excluded. Conclusions Findings suggest that immune system dysregulation may be associated with adolescent MDD, with an imbalance of Th1/Th2 shifted toward Th1, as documented in adult MDD. Larger studies with medication-free adolescents should follow.
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Individuals with depression show increased production of IFNγ.
“increased production of IFNγ (Gabbay et al., 2009; Maes et al., 1994)”
From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as Gabbay et al., 2009
The Results (section 3.2.1; page unavailable) report significantly higher plasma IFN-γ in adolescents with major depressive disorder than in healthy controls. The Methods (section 2.2) show that the study measured plasma concentrations, not IFN-γ production; its direct finding is also limited to adolescents with MDD rather than all individuals with depression. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Gabbay, V., Klein, R. G., Alonso, C. M., Babb, J. S., Nishawala, M., De Jesus, G., Hirsch, G. S., Hottinger-Blanc, P. M. Z., & Gonzalez, C. J.
- Affiliations
- NYU Langone Health (US)
- New York University (US)
- New York State Department of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gabbay, Vilma
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-05
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 177-182
- ISSN
- 0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2770721
- OpenAlex
- W2037929058
- Cited by
- 153
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH077072, K23MH077072)
- National Center for Research Resources (M01 RR 00096, M01RR000096)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R21AT002395, AT002395)
- 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
- adolescent major depressive disorder, immune dysregulation, plasma cytokines, interferon-gamma, interleukin-6, Th1/Th2 imbalance, IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-4
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Major Depressive Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Major, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Female, Humans, Male, Reference Values, Cytokines, Th1 Cells, Th2 Cells, Young Adult
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