Irwin M, Lacher U, Caldwell C
Department of Psychiatry, San Diego Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, CA 92161.
Psychol Med. 1992 Nov;22(4):1045-50. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700038617.
Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that natural killer (NK) cell activity is reduced in depression. To extend these observations and examine further the association between severity of depressive symptoms and values of NK activity, this study used a longitudinal case-control design and assessed NK cytotoxicity at intake and at follow-up 6 months after discharge from the hospital in depressed patients and control subjects. From acute hospitalization to follow-up, depression scores significantly (P < 0.01) decreased following treatment in the depressed patients but did not change in the control subjects. NK activity significantly (P < 0.05) increased from intake to follow-up in the depressives while lytic activity did not change in the controls. At intake NK activity was significantly (P < 0.01) reduced in the depressed patients as compared to values in the controls, while at follow-up cytotoxicity was similar between the two groups. These longitudinal data suggest that a reduction of NK cytotoxicity is temporally associated with the state of acute depression.
横断面研究表明，抑郁症患者的自然杀伤（NK）细胞活性降低。为了扩展这些观察结果并进一步研究抑郁症状严重程度与NK活性值之间的关联，本研究采用纵向病例对照设计，对抑郁症患者和对照受试者在入院时及出院后6个月随访时的NK细胞毒性进行了评估。从急性住院到随访，抑郁症患者经治疗后抑郁评分显著降低（P < 0.01），而对照受试者的评分未发生变化。抑郁症患者从入院到随访时NK活性显著增加（P < 0.05），而对照组的溶解活性未改变。入院时，抑郁症患者的NK活性与对照组相比显著降低（P < 0.01），而在随访时两组的细胞毒性相似。这些纵向数据表明，NK细胞毒性的降低与急性抑郁状态在时间上相关。
