Certain Types of Inflammation and BMI Predict Depression
At the 2016 meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, researcher Femke Lamers and colleagues presented findings from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. The inflammatory markers interleukin-6 and CRP were elevated in people with current major depression. These measures were correlated with BMI, a measure of body weight. High levels of interleukin-6 at the beginning of the study predicted who would have a chronic course of illness.
Editor’s Note: Previous studies have found that elevated levels of CRP predicted a future mood episode in people at high risk for bipolar disorder due to a family history of the illness.
These studies suggest that it might be useful to assess levels of these inflammatory markers (CRP, interleukin-1, interleukin-6, and TNF-alpha) in young people who are at high risk for bipolar disorder. Factors that put someone at high risk include a family history of depression or bipolar disorder, a history of adversity in childhood (abuse, neglect, loss of a parent, etc.), and preliminary symptoms.
Several interventions are available that may reduce the likelihood that someone at risk for bipolar disorder will go on to develop the illness. Family interventions such as the Family Focused Therapy developed by researcher David Miklowitz are helpful. In a 2013 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Miklowitz reported that Family Focused Therapy outperformed treatment as usual for youth at risk for bipolar disorder.
Measures of inflammation might provide additional rationale for beginning interventions in youth at high risk for mood disorders. In addition to family interventions, omega-3 fatty acid supplementation is a low-risk option that is supported by some positive data. Since BMI was implicated in the study by Lamers and colleagues, keeping weight under control might also have some benefit.
For adults with depression who want to keep their weight under control, the combination of the antidepressant bupropion XR (150–300mg/day) and naltrexone (50mg/day), an opiate antagonist medication normally used to fight addictions, has been effective.
Inflammation Linked to Non-Response to Antidepressants
In a symposium on inflammation’s role in psychiatric disorders at the 2016 meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, researcher Carmine Pariante reviewed the considerable literature indicating that major depression is often associated with measures of inflammation. Depression has been linked to elevated blood levels of the inflammatory proteins interleukin-1, interleukin-6, TNF alpha, and c-reactive protein, with about one-third of depressed patients having an elevated level of at least one of these proteins. People with elevated inflammatory markers are also less likely to respond to traditional antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Pariante reported that in depressed people, interleukin-6 is also elevated in cerebrospinal fluid in addition to blood, suggesting that inflammation in depression extends to the central nervous system. Increased secretion of interleukin-6 has been linked to depressive behaviors in mice exposed to stress.
There is some hope that anti-inflammatory treatments can help patients who do not respond to traditional antidepressant treatment. Some anti-inflammatory medications that may eventually be used to treat depression with inflammation include the COX-1 inhibitor aspirin, the COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib (Celebrex), or the antibiotic minocycline. Each of these approaches gained some support in preliminary clinical trials, but it has not yet been established that these anti-inflammatory treatments produce a better response in people with elevated inflammatory markers.
Reduced Cognitive Function and Other Abnormalities in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder
At the 2015 meeting of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, Ben Goldstein described a study of cognitive dysfunction in pediatric bipolar disorder. Children with bipolar disorder were three years behind in executive functioning (which covers abilities such as planning and problem-solving) and verbal memory.
There were other abnormalities. Youth with bipolar disorder had smaller amygdalas, and those with larger amygdalas recovered better. Perception of facial emotion was another area of weakness for children (and adults) with bipolar disorder. Studies show increased activity of the amygdala during facial emotion recognition tasks.
Goldstein reported that nine studies show that youth with bipolar disorder have reduced white matter integrity. This has also been observed in their relatives without bipolar disorder, suggesting that it is a sign of vulnerability to bipolar illness. This could identify children who could benefit from preemptive treatment because they are at high risk for developing bipolar disorder due to a family history of the illness.
There are some indications of increased inflammation in pediatric bipolar disorder. CRP, a protein that is a marker of inflammation, is elevated to a level equivalent to those in kids with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis before treatment (about 3 mg/L). CRP levels may be able to predict onset of depression or mania in those with minor symptoms, and is also associated with depression duration and severity. Goldstein reported that TNF-alpha, another inflammatory marker, may be elevated in children with psychosis.
Goldstein noted a study by Ghanshyam Pandey that showed that improvement in pediatric bipolar disorder was related to increases in BDNF, a protein that protects neurons. Cognitive flexibility interacted with CRP and BDNF—those with low BDNF had more cognitive impairment as their CRP increased than did those with high BDNF.
CRP, A Readily Available Marker of Inflammation, Predicts Response To Two Antidepressants
C-reactive protein
C-reactive protein, or CRP, is a protein found in blood plasma, the levels of which rise in response to inflammation. In a recent study, levels of CRP were able to predict which of two antidepressants a patient was more likely to respond to.
The 2014 article by Rudolph Uher et al. in the American Journal of Psychiatry reported that low levels of CRP (<1 mg/L) predicted a good response to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) escitalopram (Lexapro) while higher levels of CRP predicted a good response to the tricyclic antidepressant nortriptyline, a blocker of norepinephrine reuptake.
The research was part of the Genome-Based Therapeutic Drugs for Depression (GENDEP) study, a multicenter open-label randomized clinical trial. CRP was measured in the blood of 241 adult men and women with major depressive disorder. In the article the researchers say that CRP and its interaction with medication explained more than 10% of the individual variance in response to the two antidepressants.
If these findings can be replicated with these and similarly acting drugs, it would be a very large step in the direction of personalized medicine and the ability to predict individual response to medications.
Inflammation Occurs During Both Depression And Mania
There is increasing evidence of a link between mood disorders and inflammation in the body.
At the 2014 meeting of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, Shang-Ying Tsai discussed increases in measures of inflammation that occur in bipolar disorder as a function of the clinical state of depression, mania, or euthymia (remission). He found that in both mania and depression, there were elevations in various markers of inflammation: STNF-R1, CRP, IL-Ira and SLR-2r. However, SLR-2r showed some particularly interesting results. In mania, elevation of SLR-2r, a marker of cell-mediated inflammation, was state-related, meaning it increased during an episode of mania and remained normal during euthymia. In depression, SLR-2r elevation was trait-related, or persistently elevated (even in remission).
Editor’s Note: This study adds to a growing list of studies that confirm the presence of inflammation in patients with bipolar disorder compared to normal controls, including a 2012 article by Tsai in the Journal of Affective Disorders. How elevations in inflammatory markers in a given individual should direct specific types of treatment intervention remains to be further clarified.
Inflammatory Markers of Bipolar Illness Course
People with bipolar disorder often show signs of inflammation. These could eventually help clarify diagnosis, illness activity, and treatment response, and predict illness progression. Previous studies have shown increases in c-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in adults with mood disorder. These high levels tend to improve with medications, are related to illness severity, and are also related to manic and mixed states.
At the 2013 meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), Ben Goldstein reported on a study that examined levels of TNF alpha, IL-6, and high sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) in 123 adolescents with an average age of 20.4 years, who had been ill for an average of 12.7 years.
CRP levels in adolescents with bipolar illness were equivalent to those with rheumatoid arthritis, and much higher than healthy controls. In children with bipolar disorder, higher levels of CRP were related to more time symptomatic. High hsCRP was related to lower socio-economic status and to substance abuse disorders.
Increases in IL-6 were linked to a longer time to achieve remission and more weeks depressed. High IL-6 was related to duration of illness, positive family history of substance use, and family conflict.
High TNF alpha was related to low socioeconomic status (SES), self-injury, suicidal ideation, and positive life events.
Goldstein said studies of these markers could eventually lead to therapeutic advances, but the process would be long and would require several steps: proof of concept studies, prospective validation studies in independent samples, and demonstration of clinical gains over standard predictive markers, culminating in enhanced patient care and outcome through better, faster prediction of response.
Editor’s Note: Ideally clinicians could jump ahead by immediately attempting to determine whether adding a medication with direct anti-inflammatory effects could enhance therapeutic effects in children with elevated inflammatory markers. Treating inflammation could also theoretically help prevent cognitive deterioration and decrease the considerable risk for cardiovascular dysfunction in patients with bipolar disorder.
High CRP Predicts Early Onset Of A Mood Episode
C-reactive protein
Barbara Gracious of Ohio State University became interested in the inflammatory marker CRP through studying vitamin D3 deficiency. Vitamin D is a neurosteroid, and low levels of it have been associated with risk of schizophrenia, cardiovascular disease (heart attack), diabetes, mood disorders, cognitive deficits, autoimmune disease, and obesity. High CRP levels are related to low vitamin D, to obesity, and to other inflammatory markers such as IL-6 and TNF alpha.
Gracious measured these levels of CRP in 621 children participating in the Longitudinal Study of Manic Symptoms (LAMS), who were followed up for many years. She found that those with higher levels of CRP developed a mood episode approximately two years earlier than those with normal levels. CRP binds phosphocholine, which activates complement, a kind of protein that induces inflammation. CRP is elevated in 14% to 53% of patients with depression and anxiety.
Copeland et al. reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2012 that after a first depression, high CRP was associated with relapse. CRP also increases in adolescent females (who are at increased risk for depression).
Editor’s Note: These findings suggest the potential importance not only of using CRP as an indicator of depression risk, but also of targeting CRP levels in the hopes of reducing risk of a mood episode in children with elevated inflammatory markers. Supplementing vitamin D3 in those with low levels would be a good place to start, as would preventing or treating obesity and promoting good sleep hygiene and exercise. The potential role of medications with direct anti-inflammatory effects such as aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) or minocycline deserves further study.
Balanced diet, exercise, and good sleep habits may be easier said (or recommended) than done. Such lifestyle advice must be delivered with motivational interviewing, and instilled through practice, positive feedback, encouragement, and more practice. In children in general, and especially in those at high risk for a mood episode due to a family history of a unipolar or bipolar mood disorder, starting things off right from the outset with good diet, exercise, and sleep routines would be highly recommended. The benefits for long-term health and wellbeing could be enormous.
The results of good health behaviors may be mediated through several pathways. They could lessen inflammation and obesity, increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, which is important for new synapses and long-term memory) and neurogenesis (both of which are increased by exercise), and even lengthen the telomeres that cap the ends of each strand of DNA (short ones are associated with a variety of medical and psychiatric illnesses).
CRP in Blood Predicts Onset of New Episode in Childhood Mood Disorders
C-reactive protein
At the 2013 meeting of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, researcher Barbara Gracious presented evidence that increased levels of high sensitivity c-reactive protein (hsCRP), a marker of inflammation, were associated with an increased risk for developing a full-blown mood episode in 71 youth (average age 13.8) participating in a study called Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS-2). The children were selected for the study because they had manic symptoms that were not severe enough to meet criteria for a diagnosis of bipolar I or II disorder. This research has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, but the abstract can be found in first 2013 supplement of the journal Bipolar Disorders (page 67).
CRP levels are also known to predict cardiovascular disease and Type II diabetes.
Levels of 25-OH vitamin D, TNF?, and IL-6 did not predict a later mood disorder.
Editor’s Note: These data suggest the importance of assessing CRP and other markers in youth who are either prodromal (having early symptoms of a mood disorder) or at high risk because of a family history of a mood disorder.
The next step for clinical research would be to determine what treatment might decrease CRP and whether it would also prevent the development of mood episodes.
