Inflammatory Cytokines in obessive-compulsive disorder:: A systematic review

Tofani, Tommaso, Pallanti, Stefano, Hou, Ruihua and Baldwin, David (2018) Inflammatory Cytokines in obessive-compulsive disorder:: A systematic review. British Association for Psychopharmacology Summer Meeting, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. 22 - 25 Jul 2018. p. 30 .

Abstract

Introduction: An increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines is reported in different psychiatric conditions including major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders, but the profile of inflammatory markers in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is not established. Methods: Systematic review of MEDLINE, Embase and WEB OF SCIENCE databases (1950-2017), identifying investigations of cytokines, chemokines or interleukins in blood or cerebrospinal fluid of childhood, adolescent and adult patients with OCD, defined by ICD or DSM criteria. Screening, data extraction and quality assessment were conducted. Studies were excluded if they represented pre-clinical studies or review articles, or were investigations in which OCDwas, not the primary mental disorder. Results: The search generated 1285 abstracts: after review, 16studies (including 431 participants, comprising 13 studies in adults, and 3 in children and adolescents)were included. These studies generated inconsistent findings. TNFα is the most investigated proinflammatory cytokine: in adult patients Konuk et al. found an increase in plasma levels (13.7±10.61pg/ml in OCD patients vs. 7.2±3.4pg/ml in healthy controls, p<0.000). These findings were supported by an investigation by Rao et al. where TNFα levels were 1.31±0.82pg/ml in OCD vs. 0.47±0.76pg/ml in healthy controls (p=0.005). In a study in children and adolescent patients, Simsek showed increased TNFα levels:22.7 ± 32.1 pg/ml in OCD group vs. 4.9 ± 5.6 pg/ml (p=0.01) in healthy controls. Nevertheless, in four other investigations, TNFα levels were reduced. Similar inconsistencies characterised studies with other pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6 and IFNγ. Levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines appear substantially unchanged, although one study found increased levels of IL-4 and IL-10, and another investigation found increased levels of IL-8. There were considerable differences in methodology between different investigations. Conclusions: No consistent pattern of pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory markers could be identified. Variations between study findings may relate to differences in study design(e.g. comorbidity, treatment, smoking, exercise, timing of sample collection, use of lipopolysaccharide stimulation techniques).

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Contributors

Author: Ruihua Hou

Author: David Baldwin

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