title: Thyroid Autoimmune Antibodies and Major Depressive Disorder in Women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anti-thyroid antibodies are associated with extra-thyroid diseases such as Graves' ophthalmopathy and Hashimoto's encephalopathy. Some evidence suggests that anti-thyroid antibodies are also associated with depression. Interleukin (IL)-17 appears to play an important role in autoimmune thyroid disease. This study investigated whether specific thyroid autoantibodies and IL-17 distinguished persons with depression from non-depressed controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-seven adult females with non-psychotic, current major depressive disorder and 80 healthy female controls participated in this study. Thyroid peroxidase antibodies, thyroglobulin antibodies, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor antibodies, free T3 and T4, TSH and IL-17 were measured from the serum. Measurements were repeated to assess test-retest reliability. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to estimate discriminatory values of the measurements. Differences between groups and associations between the clinical and biochemical assessments were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median TSH receptor antibody concentration was significantly higher in the depressed than control group (P <0.001). Area under the ROC curve was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.73 to 0.88). Higher TSH receptor antibody titres were associated with greater depression severity scores (r = 0.33, P <0.05). IL-17 levels were not associated with TSH receptor antibody levels or depression severity scores. Thyroid function and other thyroid autoantibodies were not associated with depression severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TSH receptor antibodies might be a biomarker of immune dysfunction in depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Johnson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fam
authors.forename: A John
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rush
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Burt
authors.forename: Edwin Sy
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Fahad J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.forename: Pryseley N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Assam
authors.forename: Oi Fah
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Herng Nieng
authors.initials: HN
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Beng Yeong
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Daphne H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Khoo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018828:Immunoglobulins, Thyroid-Stimulating / Q000097:blood*; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012372:ROC Curve; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D018828:Immunoglobulins, Thyroid-Stimulating; D020381:Interleukin-17; C006606:anti-thyroglobulin; C094372:thyrotropin-binding inhibitory immunoglobulin