Abstract
BACKGROUND: Major psychiatric disorders are associated with inflammation. Aberrant cytokine and chemokine levels have been associated with psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavior. We performed a meta-analysis of cytokine and chemokine levels in patients with versus without suicidality and patients with suicidality versus healthy controls. METHODS: We identified articles by searching MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge databases and the reference lists of identified studies. RESULTS: Study inclusion criteria were met by 18 studies comprising 583 patients with suicidality, 315 patients without suicidality, and 845 healthy control subjects. Levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 were significantly increased in blood and postmortem brain samples of patients with suicidality compared with both patients without suicidality and healthy control subjects (p <.05 for each). In vitro IL-2 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells was significantly decreased in patients with suicidality compared with both patients without suicidality and healthy controls (p <.01 for each). Cerebrospinal fluid levels of IL-8 were significantly decreased in patients with suicidality versus control subjects (p,.05). CONCLUSIONS: We found evidence for aberrant cytokine levels in blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and postmortem brain samples of patients with suicidality. Levels of IL-1β and IL-6 were most robustly associated with suicidality, and these cytokines may help distinguish suicidal from nonsuicidal patients. Rigorously designed longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate these associations further.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 28-37 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Biological Psychiatry |
Volume | 78 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2015 |
Keywords
- Chemokines
- Cytokines
- Depression
- Inflammation
- Meta-analysis
- Suicide
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biological Psychiatry