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Association between increased serum interleukin-6 levels and sustained attention deficits in patients with major depressive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

Gang Ye ,
Guang Zhong Yin ,
Zhen Tang ,
Jia Lin Fu ,
Jie Chen ,
Shan Shan Chen ,
Jia Li ,
Tian Fu ,
Xin Yu  and
Dong Wu Xu
...Show all authors
Gang Ye
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China
Guang Zhong Yin
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China
Zhen Tang
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China
Jia Lin Fu
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China
Jie Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China School of Mental Health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, PR China
Shan Shan Chen
Affiliation:
School of Mental Health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, PR China
Jia Li
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China
Tian Fu
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China
Xin Yu
Affiliation:
School of Mental Health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, PR China Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100083, PR China
Dong Wu Xu
Affiliation:
School of Mental Health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, PR China
Jeffrey K. Yao
Affiliation:
Medical Research Service, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Li Hui*
Affiliation:
Institute of Mental Health, Suzhou Psychiatric Hospital, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China
*
Author for correspondence: Li Hui, E-mail: huili004100@126.com
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Abstract

Background

The pathophysiology of cognitive impairment in patients with the major depressive disorder (MDD) may involve neuroinflammation mediated by cytokines.

Objective

The aim of this study was to examine the serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels, sustained attention, and their association in patients with MDD.

Methods

Thirty patients with MDD and 30 healthy controls were enrolled in this case-control study. Sustained attention was measured using the Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP) task in the Cambridge Neuropsychological Tests Automated Battery. The serum IL-6 levels of all subjects were assessed by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

Results

There were significant differences in the log10RVP total hits, log10RVP total misses, and log10RVP mean latency between patients with MDD and healthy controls (F = 6.04, p = 0.017; F = 19.77, p < 0.0001; F = 14.42, p < 0.0001, respectively). The serum levels of Log10IL-6 were significantly higher in patients with MDD than in healthy controls (F = 192.27, p < 0.0001). The log10IL-6 levels were also positively correlated with the log10RVP mean latency in patients with MDD (r = 0.45, p = 0.013). A further stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that the log10IL-6 levels were significantly associated with the log10RVP mean latency in patients with MDD (β = 0.31, t = 2.41, p = 0.025).

Conclusions

Our data suggested that increased IL-6 levels were associated with the psychopathology of MDD, and that abnormal IL-6 levels were implicated in the impairment of sustained attention in patients with MDD.

Keywords

Associationinterleukin-6major depressive disordersustained attention
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 48 , Issue 15 , November 2018 , pp. 2508 - 2514
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

*

Gang Ye, Guang Zhong Yin and Zhen Tang contributed equally to this work, and they should be regarded as joint first authors

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