Unmedicated, remitted patients with major depression have decreased serum immunoglobulin A

Philip W. Gold, Maria G. Pavlatou, Paul J. Carlson, David A. Luckenbaugh, Rene Costello, Omer Bonne, Gyorgy Csako, Wayne C. Drevets, Alan T. Remaley, Dennis S. Charney, Alexander Neumeister, Mitchel A. Kling

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Patents with major depression have evidence of a proinflammatory state with consistent elevations in acute phase proteins and in the levels of inflammatory mediators such as interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α. We report here a study of the serum levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA) in medication-free patients with major depression in the remitted state (ruMDD). Selective IgA deficiency is the most common form of immunoglobulin abnormality, and is often associated with a higher than expected incidence of proinflammatory and autoimmune phenomena. We measured serum IgG, IgM, and IgA in 28 ruMDD patients and 27 healthy subjects (Ctrl) at 0 (pretreatment), 7, and 24. h following sham depletion and tryptophan (TrpD) depletion conducted at least 8 days apart under balanced, randomized, blinded conditions. Immunoglobulins were measured by automated immunonephelometry. Data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA with diagnosis as a fixed effect and drug (TrpD vs. sham), and time as repeated measures factors. Serum IgA was consistently lower in ruMDD patients vs. Ctrl at all time points examined (p< 0.04 for main effect of diagnosis). Serum IgG and IgM levels did not show significant differences by diagnosis. Medication-free patients with major depression in the remitted state have a significant reduction in serum IgA levels measured on multiple occasions. In the light of the fact that IgA serves many immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory roles, this finding supports the concept that major depressive illness represents a proinflammatory state.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalNeuroscience Letters
Volume520
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 27 2012
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Neuroscience

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