Download Altered gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines and their

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Department of Psychiatry
Fifth Annual Research Forum – Extravaganza 2014
POSTER TITLE
Altered gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines and their receptors in the
lymphocyte of depressed patients
DISEASE/KEY
WORDS:
biomarkers, proinflammatory cytokines, depression, major depressive
disorder, lymphocytes, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1R1, IL-1R2, IL-1RA, IL-6,
Gp130, TNFR1, TNFR2
AUTHORS:
H. ZHANG, H. S. RIZAVI, X. REN, G. N. PANDEY
MENTEE
CATEGORY:
Postdoc Research Associate
BACKGROUND:
Abnormalities of the immune function have been implicated in the
pathophysiology of depression. This is primarily based on the observation that
treating cancer patients with a cytokine interferon(IFN)-α causes depressionlike symptoms and that protein levels of proinflammatory cytokines and their
soluble receptors are increased in the serum of depressed patients. The
soluble receptors are derived from proteolytic degradation of membranebound cytokine receptors, which are involved in signal transduction and
mediate the functional and biological effects of cytokines. Although soluble
cytokine receptors have been studied in depression, to our knowledge
membrane-bound cytokine receptors were not studied in depression or other
psychiatric disorders.
METHODS:
We determined the protein and mRNA expression of proinflammatory
cytokines, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and
mRNA expression of their receptors IL-1R1, IL-1R2, IL-1R antagonist (IL1RA), IL-6R, glycoprotein (Gp)130, TNFR1, and TNFR2 in the lymphocytes
from 26 drug-free, hospitalized MDD patients and 29 drug-free normal control
(NC) subjects. The subjects were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria.
Protein levels of cytokines were determined by ELISA, and mRNA levels of
cytokines and cytokine receptors in lymphocytes were determined by the
qPCR method.
We found that the mean mRNA levels of the proinflammatory cytokines
IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were significantly increased in the lymphocytes of MDD
patients compared with normal controls. The protein levels of the cytokines IL1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were also significantly increased in the plasma of MDD
patients compared with normal controls. The mRNA levels of IL-1R1, IL-1RA,
TNFR1, and TNFR2 were significantly increased in the lymphocytes of MDD
RESULTS:
RESEARCH MENTOR:
Ghanshyam N. Pandey,
Ph.D
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Department of Psychiatry
patients compared with normal controls. No significant differences were
observed in mRNA levels of IL-1R2, IL-6R, or Gp130 between MDD patients
and normal controls.
CONCLUSIONS:
These studies suggest that the reported abnormalities of cytokines and
their soluble receptors observed in the plasma of MDD patients may be
related to an abnormal gene expression of these cytokines and their receptors
in the lymphocytes of MDD patients, and that their mRNA expression levels in
the lymphocytes could be a useful biomarker for depression. To our
knowledge, this is the first study of cytokine receptors in depressed patients.