title: Newly diagnosed depression is associated with increased beta-thromboglobulin levels and increased expression of platelet activation markers and platelet derived CD40-CD40L.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Inflammation plays a key role in atherosclerotic disease. Up until now only limited evidence exists on the mechanism of cardiovascular complications in patients with depression. In addition depression was also linked to an increase in cardiovascular mortality. The present study was designed to evaluate the extent of platelet activation and platelet-derived markers of atherosclerotic disease in patients with newly diagnosed depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study used whole blood aggregometry, flow cytometry and ELISA to investigate platelet CD62P (P-selectin) expression and atherosclerotic markers (CD40, CD40L) as well as serum platelet factor 4 (PF-4) and beta-thromboglobulin (β-TG) levels in 46 participants. Patients with newly diagnosed, but not yet medically treated depression (n = 21) were compared to healthy control patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The platelet activation marker CD62P was significantly higher in patients with depression (2.62% depression versus 1.27% controls; p = 0.006). Further we found basal CD40 (6.7% vs. 4.8%; p = 0.002) and basal CD40L (31.0% vs. 22.0%; p = 0.025) to be elevated in patients with depression as compared to control persons. In addition sCD40L (52.7 vs. 44.4 ng/ml; p = 0.023) and β-TG differed significantly in depressed patients (206.9 vs. 182.8 ng/ml; p = 0.001). However, basal CD41 (97.0% vs. 96.3%; p = 0.57), CD42b (96.7% vs. 94.7%; p = 0.28) and PF-4 (89.61 vs. 81.75 IU/ml; p = 0.10) and the aggregometry results did not differ significantly between the study groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings with elevated CD40 and CD40L as well as CD62P and β-TG in newly diagnosed patients emphasize that depression is linked to a prothrombotic and proinflammatory state and this possibly contributes to accelerated atherosclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Center, St. Josef-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstrasse 56, D-44791 Bochum, Germany. horst.neubauer@rub.de
authors.forename: Horst
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neubauer
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Petrak
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zahn
authors.forename: Fenena
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pepinghege
authors.forename: Anna-Karolina
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Hägele
authors.forename: Pia-Alexandra
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pirkl
authors.forename: Idun
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Uhl
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Juckel
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mügge
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Herpertz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D019013:CD40 Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019007:P-Selectin / Q000097:blood; D015539:Platelet Activation / Q000502:physiology; D001620:beta-Thromboglobulin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019013:CD40 Antigens; D019007:P-Selectin; D001620:beta-Thromboglobulin; D023201:CD40 Ligand