title: Associations between pro-inflammatory cytokines, learning, and memory in late-life depression and healthy aging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pro-inflammatory cytokines may play a role in learning and memory difficulties and may be exacerbated in late-life depression (LLD), where pro-inflammatory markers are already elevated because of aging and age-related vascular risk.
  
  
  METHODS
  Learning and memory, and pro-inflammatory cytokines-Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured in 24 individuals with LLD and 34 healthy older adults (HOA). Hippocampal volumes were segmented using Freesurfer software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pro-inflammatory cytokines were higher in LLD compared with HOA. Regression analyses demonstrated that educational level and right hippocampal volume significantly contributed to explaining the variance in learning. For memory performance, educational level, right hippocampal volume and a group-by-IL-6 interaction significantly contributed to the model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High levels of IL-6 impact cognition in LLD but not HOA. Results suggest that high levels of inflammation alone are not sufficient to account for cognitive difficulties, but may interact with other factors in at-risk populations like LLD, to contribute to memory difficulties. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London, London, UK.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3326-8762
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Charlton
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Aifeng
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Xinguo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Olusola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ajilore
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.|Department of Pharmacology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Ghanshyam N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Anand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D000073656:Healthy Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000378:metabolism; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: aging; cognition; inflammation; late-life depression; learning; memory