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Inflammation and depressive phenotypes: evidence from medical records from over 12 000 patients and brain morphology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2019

Maria Ironside ,
Roee Admon ,
Stephanie A. Maddox ,
Malavika Mehta ,
Samuel Douglas ,
David P. Olson  and
Diego A. Pizzagalli Open the ORCID record for Diego A. Pizzagalli [Opens in a new window]
Maria Ironside
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
Roee Admon
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Stephanie A. Maddox
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
Malavika Mehta
Affiliation:
McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
Samuel Douglas
Affiliation:
McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
David P. Olson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
Diego A. Pizzagalli*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Diego A. Pizzagalli, E-mail: dap@mclean.harvard.edu
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Abstract

Background

Preclinical and human studies suggest an association between chronic inflammation and the development of depressive behaviors. This is proposed to occur through downstream effects of inflammatory cytokines on neuroplasticity, neurogenesis and neurotransmitter function, although the neural correlates remain poorly understood in humans.

Methods

In Study 1, structural magnetic resonance imaging and serum inflammatory cytokine data were analyzed from 53 psychiatrically healthy female participants. Correlational analyses were conducted between interleukin-6 (IL-6) and volume in a priori regions implicated in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). In Study 2, medical data [including serum inflammatory acute phase reactants (C-reactive protein)] were analyzed for 12 589 participants. Participants were classified as having (n = 2541) v. not having (n = 10 048) probable lifetime MDD using phenotypes derived using machine-learning approaches. Non-parametric analyses compared inflammation between groups, whereas regression analyses probed whether inflammation predicted probable MDD classification while accounting for other variables.

Results

In Study 1, significant negative correlations emerged between IL-6 and hippocampal, caudate, putamen and amygdalar volume. In Study 2, the MDD group showed a higher probability of elevated inflammation than the non-MDD group. Moreover, elevated inflammation was a significant predictor of probable MDD classification.

Conclusions

Findings indicate that inflammation is cross-sectionally related to reduced volume in brain regions implicated in MDD phenotypes among a sample of psychiatrically healthy women, and is associated with the presence of probable MDD in a large clinical dataset. Future investigations may identify specific inflammatory markers predicting first MDD onset.

Keywords

AmygdalabiomarkerC-reactive proteindepressionhippocampusIL-6limbic
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 50 , Issue 16 , December 2020 , pp. 2790 - 2798
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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Footnotes

*

These authors made equal contribution.

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