Miller A H, Asnis G M, Lackner C, Halbreich U, Norin A J
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029.
Biol Psychiatry. 1991 May 1;29(9):878-86. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(91)90054-p.
Natural killer (NK) cell activity was evaluated in 34 ambulatory patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and 21 healthy controls. No mean differences between the groups were found. However, female depressives (n = 19) exhibited higher NK activity than female controls (n = 14). The relationship between cortisol secretion and NK activity was examined using an integrated cortisol value derived from multiple blood samples taken between 1:00 and 4:00 PM. This comprehensive assessment of cortisol secretion circumvents spurious "single stick" cortisol values and provides a more accurate determination of hypercortisolemia than the dexamethasone suppression test. NK activity in depressives with cortisol hypersecretion (greater than 11 micrograms/dl) (n = 7) was no different than NK activity in depressives and controls with normal cortisol secretion. Furthermore, there was no correlation between cortisol secretion and NK activity in any of the groups. These results indicate that decreased NK activity is not a consistent finding in MDD and cannot be predicted by the presence of hypercortisolemia in these patients.
对34名门诊重度抑郁症（MDD）患者和21名健康对照者的自然杀伤（NK）细胞活性进行了评估。未发现两组之间存在均值差异。然而，女性抑郁症患者（n = 19）的NK活性高于女性对照者（n = 14）。使用下午1点至4点期间采集的多个血样得出的综合皮质醇值来检查皮质醇分泌与NK活性之间的关系。这种对皮质醇分泌的全面评估避免了虚假的“单次测量”皮质醇值，并且比地塞米松抑制试验能更准确地确定高皮质醇血症。皮质醇分泌过多（大于11微克/分升）的抑郁症患者（n = 7）的NK活性与皮质醇分泌正常的抑郁症患者和对照者的NK活性没有差异。此外，任何一组中皮质醇分泌与NK活性之间均无相关性。这些结果表明，NK活性降低在MDD中并非一致的发现，且不能通过这些患者中高皮质醇血症的存在来预测。
