Increased soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels are related to somatic but not to cognitive-affective features in major depression.
Cell-mediated immune activation may play a role in the pathogenesis of depression as indicated by findings of increased soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor (sTNF-R) levels and meta-analytic evidence for elevated soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) concentrations. However, little research has been done on how these soluble cytokine receptors are differently related to specific features in patients with depression. We measured levels of the soluble cytokine receptors sIL-2R, sTNF-R1 and sTNF-R2 in 25 non-medicated patients with major depression (DSM-IV) and 22 healthy controls. Psychometric measures included cognitive-affective depressive symptoms, somatoform symptoms, somatic and cognitive dimensions of anxiety and current mood states. While patients with depression showed increased levels of sIL-2R (p<0.01), differences in sTNF-R1 (p=0.09) and sTNF-R2 (p=0.08) marginally failed to reach significance. Increased concentrations of sIL-2R were related to somatic measures such as the severity of somatoform symptoms and somatic anxiety symptoms but not to cognitive-affective measures or current mood states. Our findings may suggest some specificity in the relationship between sIL-2R and symptom dimensions and highlight potential pathways by which T cell mediated immune activation may underpin somatic symptoms in depression.
Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany. frank.euteneuer@staff.uni-marburg.de
Frank
F
Euteneuer
Markus J
MJ
Schwarz
Katharina
K
Dannehl
Anja
A
Hartung
Stefan
S
Westermann
Winfried
W
Rief
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000378:metabolism*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000097:blood*; D012995:Solubility; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000378:metabolism*
D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor