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Treatment-resistant depression and peripheral C-reactive protein
Dr Sam Chamberlain
Samuel R. Chamberlain, Jonathan Cavanagh, Peter de Boer, Valeria Mondelli
Background
C-reactive protein (CRP) is a candidate biomarker for major depressive disorder (MDD), but it is unclear how peripheral CRP levels relate to the heterogeneous clinical phenotypes of the disorder.
Aim
To explore CRP in MDD and its phenotypic associations.
Method
We recruited 102 treatment-resistant patients with MDD currently experiencing depression, 48 treatment-responsive patients with MDD not currently experiencing depression, 48 patients with depression who were not receiving medication and 54 healthy volunteers. High-sensitivity CRP in peripheral venous blood, body mass index (BMI) and questionnaire assessments of depression, anxiety and childhood trauma were measured. Group differences in CRP were estimated, and partial least squares (PLS) analysis explored the relationships between CRP and specific clinical phenotypes.
Results
Compared with healthy volunteers, BMI-corrected CRP was significantly elevated in the treatment-resistant group (P = 0.007; Cohen’s d = 0.47); but not significantly so in the treatment-responsive (d = 0.29) and untreated (d = 0.18) groups. PLS yielded an optimal two-factor solution that accounted for 34.7% of variation in clinical measures and for 36.0% of variation in CRP. Clinical phenotypes most strongly associated with CRP and heavily weighted on the first PLS component were vegetative depressive symptoms, BMI, state anxiety and feeling unloved as a child or wishing for a different childhood.
Conclusions
CRP was elevated in patients with MDD, and more so in treatment-resistant patients. Other phenotypes associated with elevated CRP included childhood adversity and specific depressive and anxious symptoms. We suggest that patients with MDD stratified for proinflammatory biomarkers, like CRP, have a distinctive clinical profile that might be responsive to second-line treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs.
Link
Professor Ed Bullmore talking to Radio 4 about ‘The Inflamed Mind’
Radio 4 podcast ‘ The Inflamed Mind’
For more from Professor @edbullmore on the link between inflammation and depression, listen again to this eye-opening, award nominated @BBCRadio4 podcast by @RachMBuch and @JamesTGallagher https://t.co/sbBdz65Pth
— Biodep (@bio_dep) April 20, 2018
BBC Look East report on the new depression treatment trial starting late 2018
Depression is a physical illness which could be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, scientists suggest
Depression could be treated using anti-inflammatory drugs,scientists now believe, after determining that it is a physical illness caused by a faulty immune system.
Around one in 13 people in Britain suffers from anxiety or depression and last year the NHS issued 64.7 million prescriptions for antidepressants, double the amount given out a decade ago.
A raft of recent papers, and unexpected results from clinical trials, have shown that treating inflammation seems to alleviate depression.
Could depression be caused by our immune system? – MQ Mental Health with Professor Carmine Pariante
More and more research is pointing towards the impact that our immune system has on our likelihood to develop depression. And understanding this could have huge impacts on how we treat it. We speak to Professor Carmine Pariante, who’s been investigating this fascinating area of research for the last 20 years to find out more.
Source: https://www.mqmentalhealth.org/posts/could-depression-be-caused-by-our-immune-system
Could an overactive immune system cause depression? – BBC News
Watch this @BBCNews piece on how we are helping to change public perception and find new treatments for Depression https://t.co/b7MDUNAmyn
— Biodep (@bio_dep) May 22, 2017
Depression, a disease of the mind? Actually our immune system could be the culprit | Spectator Health
When the journalist Bryony Gordon wrote about her struggle with depression she was taken aback by her readers’ reaction. In her memoir Mad Girl she recalls: ‘Of all the subjects I had written about in my career, not one of them had elicited a response like this… I received hundreds and hundreds of messages from people sharing their own stories of mental illness. Strangers sent me cards. Friends I had always seen as upbeat and jolly, who had probably always seen me as upbeat and jolly, pulled me to on
Major step towards Alzheimer’s blood test – News – Cardiff University
A research team, led by Cardiff University, has made a significant step towards the development of a simple blood test to predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.Funded by the Alzheimer’s Society, the group of researchers from Cardiff University, King’s College London and the University of Oxford studied blood from 292 individuals with the earliest signs of memory impairment and found a set of biomarkers (indicators of disease) that predicted whether or not a given individual would develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Source: Major step towards Alzheimer’s blood test – News – Cardiff University