title: Pathogen-Host Defense in the Evolution of Depression: Insights into Epidemiology, Genetics, Bioregional Differences and Female Preponderance.
abstract: Significant attention has been paid to the potential adaptive value of depression as it relates to interactions with people in the social world. However, in this review, we outline the rationale of why certain features of depression including its environmental and genetic risk factors, its association with the acute phase response and its age of onset and female preponderance appear to have evolved from human interactions with pathogens in the microbial world. Approaching the relationship between inflammation and depression from this evolutionary perspective yields a number of insights that may reveal important clues regarding the origin and epidemiology of the disorder as well as the persistence of its risk alleles in the modern human genome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.|School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Charles L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Raison
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.|The Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors