Cited by 1,195Tryptophan and brain disordersNeuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsStress Responses and Cortisol

Immune system to brain signaling: Neuropsychopharmacological implications

Open access
Capuron, Lucile, Miller, Andrew H.·2011·Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Abstract

There has been an explosion in our knowledge of the pathways and mechanisms by which the immune system can influence the brain and behavior. In the context of inflammation, pro-inflammatory cytokines can access the central nervous system and interact with a cytokine network in the brain to influence virtually every aspect of brain function relevant to behavior including neurotransmitter metabolism, neuroendocrine function, synaptic plasticity, and neurocircuits that regulate mood, motor activity, motivation, anxiety and alarm. Behavioral consequences of these effects of the immune system on the brain include depression, anxiety, fatigue, psychomotor slowing, anorexia, cognitive dysfunction and sleep impairment; symptoms that overlap with those which characterize neuropsychiatric disorders, especially depression. Pathways that appear to be especially important in immune system effects on the brain include the cytokine signaling molecules, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and nuclear factor kappa B; indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase and its downstream metabolites, kynurenine, quinolinic acid and kynurenic acid; the neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine and glutamate; and neurocircuits involving the basal ganglia and anterior cingulate cortex. A series of vulnerability factors including aging and obesity as well as chronic stress also appears to interact with immune to brain signaling to exacerbate immunologic contributions to neuropsychiatric disease. The elucidation of the mechanisms by which the immune system influences behavior yields a host of targets for potential therapeutic development as well as informing strategies for the prevention of neuropsychiatric disease in at risk populations.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2011.01.014

Cites

199 of 199 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Individuals with a history of depression are more likely to develop cognitive and affective symptoms of depression following IFNα treatment for cancer or hepatitis C than persons without a history of depression.

    “individuals with a history of depression are more likely to develop cognitive and affective symptoms of depression (e.g., depressed mood, anxiety, irritability, memory and attentional problems) following IFNα treatment for cancer or hepatitis C than persons without a history of depression”

    From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as Capuron & Miller, 2011

    The section on cytokine-induced neuropsychiatric symptoms (page unavailable) says that mood and cognitive symptoms can follow IFN-alpha treatment for cancer or hepatitis C, especially in patients with vulnerability factors. It identifies preexisting subclinical depressive traits as a risk factor, but does not specifically compare people with and without a history of depression. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Nearly all patients who receive IFNα treatment for these conditions appear to experience a sudden onset of neurovegetative symptoms of depression, including anorexia, fatigue, psychomotor retardation, and disrupted sleep.

    “nearly all patients who receive IFNα treatment for these conditions appear to experience a sudden onset of neurovegetative symptoms of depression, including anorexia, fatigue, psychomotor retardation, and disrupted sleep”
  • Together, this pathway may cause cellular damage and volume loss in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex.

    “Together, this pathway may trigger hippocampal and mPFC cellular damage and volume reductions (138,144,145).”
  • Peripherally produced cytokines can influence the central nervous system.

    “peripherally produced cytokines can influence the central nervous system (CNS)”
  • Most studies measure serum or plasma cytokine levels, but it has often been discussed whether these results reflect the situation in the brain.

    “Most of the studies measure serum or plasma cytokine levels, but it has often been discussed whether these results reflect the situation in the brain (31).”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Roitt I Bostoff J Male D 1998 Immunology 5 Mosby New York

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Capuron, L., & Miller, A. H.
Affiliations
Emory University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Capuron, Lucile
  • Miller, Andrew H.
Venue
Pharmacology & Therapeutics
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-05
Volume
130
Issue
2
Pages
226-238
ISSN
0163-7258 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2072016770
Cited by
1,195
References
199
Citations by year
2026: 74 · 2025: 91 · 2024: 74 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 75 · 2021: 102 · 2020: 97 · 2019: 77 · 2018: 88 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 76 · 2015: 81 · 2014: 69 · 2013: 80 · 2012: 61
FWCI
3.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Pharmacology & Therapeutics (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH083746, R01MH087604, R01MH075102)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Keywords
neuroinflammation, inflammatory cytokines, depression, anxiety, p38 MAPK, NF-κB, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, kynurenine pathway, serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, basal ganglia, anterior cingulate cortex, chronic stress, aging, obesity, neuropsychiatric disorders, therapeutic target
MeSH terms
Animals, Mental Disorders, Brain, Humans, Inflammation, Models, Neurological, Neuroimmunomodulation, Cytokines, Drug Delivery Systems, Inflammation Mediators, Translational Research, Biomedical

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review