The DOI matches its Crossref record; 126 of the 126 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The role of cytokines in the pathophysiology of suicidal behavior
Open accessAbstract
Objective Immune dysregulation has been implicated in depression and other psychiatric disorders. What is less clear is how immune dysregulation can affect risk of suicidal behavior. We reviewed the scientific literature concerning cytokines related to suicidal ideation, suicidal behavior and suicide, and surveyed clinical and neurobiological factors associated with cytokine levels that may modulate effects of inflammation on suicide risk.Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus and PsycINFO for relevant studies published from 1980 through February, 2015. Papers were included if they were written in English and focused on cytokine measurements in patients with suicidal behaviors.Results The literature search yielded 22 studies concerning cytokines and suicidal ideation, suicide attempts or suicide completion. The most consistent finding was elevated interleukin (IL)-6, found in 8 out of 14 studies, in CSF, blood, and postmortem brain. In one study, IL-6 in CSF was also found to be higher in violent than nonviolent attempters and to correlate with future suicide completion. Low plasma IL-2 was observed in 2 studies of suicide attempters, while divergent results were seen for tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, IL-4, and soluble Il-2 receptors.Conclusions Given the complexity suggested by the heterogenous cytokine findings, putative mediators and moderators of inflammation on suicidal behavior merit further study. Elevated IL-6 was the most robust cytokine finding, associated with suicidal ideation and both nonfatal suicide attempts and suicides. Future studies should evaluate the predictive value of high IL-6, consider how this may alter brain function to impact suicidal behavior, and explore the potential beneficial effects of reducing IL-6 on suicide risk.
Overview
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.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
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.
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?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Findings on IL-4, TGF-β, and other regulatory cytokines are further inconsistent (71).”
From Exploring the neurobiological markers of suicidal behaviors in pediatric population: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as [71]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“In contrast, results for other inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) are not consistent across studies. Some investigations report increased levels in serum or post-mortem PFC, while others find no significant differences between suicidal individuals and psychiatric or healthy controls (71).”
From Exploring the neurobiological markers of suicidal behaviors in pediatric population: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as [71]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“In suicide attempters, both peripheral and central inflammation has been reported.30,31”
From Association Between Mood Disorder Severity, Treatment Response and Systemic Inflammatory Markers: Exploring the Role of NLR, PLR, MLR, and SII (2024) · cites this paper as [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.
Citations
Cites
1 retracted
Larkin, G. L., & Beautrais, A. L. (2011) · The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1017/s1461145711000629 · Cited by 259
RetractedThe world report on violence and health
Krug, E. G., Mercy, J. A., Dahlberg, L. L., & Zwi, A. B. (2002) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(02)11133-0 · Cited by 9,110
Molecular Mechanisms of Depression: Perspectives on New Treatment Strategies
Lang, U. E., & Borgwardt, S. (2013) · Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry · doi:10.1159/000350094 · Cited by 8,526
Overview of the immune response
Chaplin, D. D. (2010) · Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2009.12.980 · Cited by 2,235
McEwen, B. S. (2008) · European Journal of Pharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.ejphar.2007.11.071 · Cited by 1,864
Coutinho, A. E., & Chapman, K. E. (2011) · Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.mce.2010.04.005 · Cited by 1,815
Toward a clinical model of suicidal behavior in psychiatric patients
Mann, J. J., Waternaux, C., Haas, G. L., & Malone, K. M. (1999) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.156.2.181 · Cited by 1,791 · cited 6×
“These factors appear to contribute as much as 30-50% to the broad suicidality phenotype (Mann et al., 2009).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialMiller, G. E., Chen, E., & Parker, K. J. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0024768 · Cited by 1,785
Marine omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory processes: effects, mechanisms and clinical relevance
Calder, P. C. (2015) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids · doi:10.1016/j.bbalip.2014.08.010 · Cited by 1,717
Risk factors for suicide in individuals with depression: a systematic review
Hawton, K., Casañas i Comabella, C., Haw, C., & Saunders, K. (2013) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2013.01.004 · Cited by 1,469
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kappelmann, N., Arloth, J., Georgakis, M. K., Czamara, D., Rost, N., Ligthart, S., Khandaker, G. M., & Binder, E. B. (2020) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3436 · Cited by 270
Steardo, L., Steardo, L., & Verkhratsky, A. (2020) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-020-00949-5 · Cited by 227
The Role of BDNF in the Neuroimmune Axis Regulation of Mood Disorders
Jin, Y., Sun, L., Yang, W., Cui, R., & Xu, S. B. (2019) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2019.00515 · Cited by 205
Biomarkers of Suicide Attempt Behavior: Towards a Biological Model of Risk
Sudol, K., & Mann, J. J. (2017) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-017-0781-y · Cited by 225
The effects of vitamin B on the immune/cytokine network and their involvement in depression
Mikkelsen, K., Stojanovska, L., Prakash, M. D., & Apostolopoulos, V. (2016) · Maturitas · doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2016.11.012 · Cited by 157
Metadata
- Authors
- Ganança, L., Oquendo, M. A., Tyrka, A. R., Cisneros-Trujillo, S., Mann, J. J., & Sublette, M. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Lisbon (PT)
- Brown University (US)
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sublette, M. Elizabeth
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-01
- Volume
- 63
- Pages
- 296-310
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4910882
- OpenAlex
- W1771262887
- Cited by
- 217
- References
- 126
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 8
- FWCI
- 1.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH090964, R01MH083704, MH P50 MH090964, R01MH101107)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- cytokines, suicidal behavior, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, suicide completion, interleukin-6, immune dysregulation, inflammation, interleukin-2, TNF-α, interferon-gamma, TGF-beta, IL-4, soluble interleukin-2 receptor, cerebrospinal fluid cytokines, postmortem brain, depression
- MeSH terms
- Depression, Humans, Inflammation, Suicide, Suicide, Attempted, Cytokines, Self-Injurious Behavior, Inflammation Mediators, Suicidal Ideation
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
