title: Correlation between serum levels of interleukin-4 and alexithymia scores in healthy female subjects: preliminary findings.
abstract: Some studies suggest that inaccuracy in recognizing and describing emotional states, combined with a highly descriptive mode of expression, as in alexithymia, may influence the immune response. We therefore investigated in healthy women the relationship between alexithymia and circulating levels of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4. Seventeen mentally and physically healthy women aged between 20 and 25 years completed psychological questionnaires to assess alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS) and depressed mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HAD). Serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were measured by ELISA. We found a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IL-4 and TAS score (r=0.55; p=0.021) and between factor 1 of the TAS (difficulty in identifying feelings) and IL-4 (r=0.57; p=0.017) while serum IL-1 and IL-2 were not detected in ten and six patients, respectively. Although there was a significant correlation between age and IL-4 levels, a linear regression with BMI, age, depressed mood and TAS as independent variables showed that only alexithymia could predict significantly increased levels of IL-4. Alexithymia and difficulty in identifying feelings could be associated with increased levels of IL-4 which may result in chronic impairment of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance with psychological and somatic consequences. Nevertheless, these intriguing findings would deserve replication and extension in a larger sample of subjects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry of Adolescents and Young Adults, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, 42 Bd Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France. maurice.corcos@imm.fr
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corcos
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Guilbaud
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paterniti
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Curt
authors.forename: Linea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hjalmarsson
authors.forename: Marlène
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moussa
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chambry
authors.forename: Gwenolé
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Loas
authors.forename: Gérard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chaouat
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jeammet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D007375:Interleukin-1; D007376:Interleukin-2; D015847:Interleukin-4