title: Impaired lymphocyte function in depressive illness.
abstract: Mood states and immunity may be related. To investigate the immune status of patients with primary depressive illness, we compared in-vitro lymphocytic responses to three different mitogens in 26 drug-free depressed patients and 20 normal controls of comparable age and sex. We observed a generalized and marked decrease in the lymphocyte mitogenic activity among the depressive group. This defect in lymphocyte function may be indicative of an impairment in cell-mediated immunity in patients with primary depressive illness.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000276:immunology*; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D008934:Mitogens