T-lymphocyte proliferative response to mitogen stimulation in elderly depressed patients.

T-lymphocyte responses to phytohemoagglutinin (PHA) stimulation were examined in 10 elderly women with nonmelancholic Major Depressive Disorders (MDD), in 10 age- and sex-matched controls and in 10 young female controls, before and after in vivo stimulation with corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). The tests were repeated in MDD patients after 30 days of therapy with phosphatidylserine (BC-PS), 200 mg/day, p.o. T-lymphocyte responses to PHA stimulation did not differ in the three groups, and were not changed by CRH administration. BC-PS therapy, while significantly improving the depressive symptomatology, did not modify the T-lymphocyte response to PHA, either before or after CRH stimulation.