New approaches to antidepressant drug design: cytokine-regulated pathways.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitor and tricyclic antidepressants have been serendipitously used for the treatment of depression for more than half a century and subsequently found to promote monoaminergic signals in the brain. Antidepressant drugs are still clinically used and industrially designed on the basis of the monoaminergic theory. Recent developments regarding selective monoaminergic uptake inhibitors can further improve the safe and rational treatment for patients with depression. However, monoamine-based antidepressants may cause unfavorable and incomplete remission of a considerable number of patients with depression; therefore, development of new antidepressant drugs based on other mechanisms is required. Meanwhile, there has been an impressive accumulation of knowledge about cytokines that might contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology of depression. Therefore, this review focuses on the association between depressive disorder and cytokines and discusses the strategies for developing new cytokine-based antidepressant drugs.
Department of Psychiatry, Shimane University School of Medicine, Izumo, Japan. anishida0705@gmail.com
Akira
A
Nishida
Tsuyoshi
T
Miyaoka
Takuji
T
Inagaki
Jun
J
Horiguchi
D000818:Animals; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000494:pharmacology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D012074:Remission Induction / Q000379:methods
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D016207:Cytokines; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors