title: Pro-inflammatory cytokines and psychotherapy in depression: Results from a randomized clinical trial.
abstract: Depression is a serious condition that is associated with great psychic suffering and major impairments on the patient's general health, quality of life, and social and occupational activities. In some cases, it may lead to suicide. Regardless of the innumerous research works that have already addressed depression in wide and specific facets, there is still a lot to grasp in order to effectively help preventing and treating depression. This work presents data from a randomized clinical trial that sought to evaluate the effectiveness of two brief psychotherapeutic for Depression: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Supportive-Expressive Dynamic Psychotherapy (SEDP). This was a convenience sample composed of 46 individuals that were evaluated using a structured diagnostic interview and then randomly allocated to the SEDP group. We examined baseline and post-intervention serum levels of the Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α) in addition to the severity of depressive symptoms according to the Outcome Questionnaire - 45.2 (OQ-45.2) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results show that serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels, as well as the scores from the OQ-45.2 and the BDI significantly decreased after 16 sessions of SEDP (p < 0.001), except for the Interpersonal Relationship domain from the OQ-45. Despite the reduction of serum cytokines levels and OQ-45 and BDI scores, they were only significantly correlated regarding the social role domain from the OQ-45. Nonetheless, our data suggests an effective role of brief psychodynamic psychotherapy in the reduction of depressive symptoms and serum inflammatory levels that are associated with depression.
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: giggiadgsa@mail.com.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Del Grande da Silva
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: carolinawiener@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Carolina David
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wiener
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: luana083@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Luana Porto
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: jacianamga@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jaciana Marlova
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gonçalves Araujo
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: mariane_lop@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mariane Lopez
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: pedrosmsoares@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: San Martin
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil; Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, Houston, TX, USA; Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: jean.pierre.oses@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jean Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Oses
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil; Translational Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, Houston, TX, USA; Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: karenjansen315@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: luciano.dms@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dias de Mattos Souza
authors.affiliation: Translational Science on Brain Disorders, Department of Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: ricardo.as@uol.com.br.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Azevedo da Silva
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000097:blood* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: Cognitive behavioral therapy; Cytokines; Depression; Interleukin-6; Supportive-Expressive psychodynamic therapy; Tumor necrosis factor