Fromme S E, Joergens S, Schwarte K, Hohoff C, Dietrich D E, Baune B T
Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Germany; Department Hamm 2, Hochschule Hamm-Lippstadt, Hamm, Germany.
J Affect Disord. 2025 Mar 15;373:374-382. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.12.097. Epub 2024 Dec 29.
Cognitive dysfunction is a symptom of depression (MDD). While the involvement of the immune system has long been suggested to contribute to the biological underpinnings of depression, less is known about the underpinnings of cognitive dysfunction. A recent genome-wide association study pointed to genes related to immune function to be relevant for cognitive processes in depression. However, only a few studies have explored immune proteins in blood in MDD who also suffer from cognitive dysfunction. In this study we investigate associations between cognitive impairment and cytokines using a comprehensive cognitive test battery and a broad cytokine assay.
124 patients with MDD and 69 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. To assess cognition, RBANS was used, which measures immediate and delayed memory, visual-spatial functions, language and attention. Moreover, six cytokines (IL-8, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10; TNF-alpha and IL-12p70) were recorded. Associations were examined by regression analyses with age, sex, education, country, group and symptom severity as covariates.
There is an exploratory tendency that higher cytokine levels (IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70) are associated with mostly lower cognition ("language", "visual-constructional", "attention" and "total score"). After conservative, corrected interpretation, interleukins were not statistically significant associated with poorer cognitive function.
Despite a large sample, the unbalanced sample size is a limitation. For future studies, it is advisable to match participants based on age and gender.
Cognitive dysfunction could be associated with specific cytokines that underpin the contribution of the immune system, but further research is necessary.
认知功能障碍是抑郁症（MDD）的一种症状。虽然长期以来人们一直认为免疫系统的参与有助于抑郁症的生物学基础，但对于认知功能障碍的基础了解较少。最近一项全基因组关联研究指出，与免疫功能相关的基因与抑郁症的认知过程有关。然而，只有少数研究探讨了同时患有认知功能障碍的抑郁症患者血液中的免疫蛋白。在本研究中，我们使用综合认知测试组合和广泛的细胞因子检测方法，研究认知障碍与细胞因子之间的关联。
招募了124例抑郁症患者和69名健康对照者（HC）。为评估认知功能，使用了RBANS，它测量即时和延迟记忆、视觉空间功能、语言和注意力。此外，记录了六种细胞因子（IL-8、IL-1β、IL-6、IL-10、TNF-α和IL-12p70）。通过以年龄、性别、教育程度、国家、组别和症状严重程度作为协变量的回归分析来检验关联。
有探索性趋势表明，较高的细胞因子水平（IL-1β、IL-6、IL-8、IL-10、IL-12p70）大多与较低的认知水平（“语言”、“视觉构建”、“注意力 ”和“总分”）相关。经过保守、校正的解释后，白细胞介素与较差的认知功能无统计学显著关联。
尽管样本量较大，但样本大小不均衡是一个局限性。对于未来的研究，建议根据年龄和性别匹配参与者。
认知功能障碍可能与支持免疫系统作用的特定细胞因子有关，但需要进一步研究。
