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Cancer and Depression: Cancer Presenting with Depressive Illness: An Autoimmune Disease?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

J. H. Brown  and
F. Paraskevas
J. H. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
F. Paraskevas
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry
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Summary

It is proposed that some cases of depressive illness in cancer patients may be caused by immunological interference with the activity of serotonin, one of the neurotransmitters thought to be implicated in depression. This interference could be mediated in two ways. Antibody induced against a protein released from cancer cells could, on the basis of cross-reactivity with CNS tissue, bind to receptors for serotonin and block them. Such primary antibodies could stimulate the production of anti-idiotypic antibodies, which would act as an alternative receptor for serotonin and reduce its synaptic availability.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 141 , Issue 3 , September 1982 , pp. 227 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

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