CELLULAR IMMUNITY IN DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS

最近有证据表明， 神经系统和免疫系统 压力大的动物显示 几种免疫参数受损， 比对照组的动物在接种了 致癌病毒 宿主防御中的类似紊乱 还观察到注射 糖皮质激素和下丘脑前部病变。 这些发现的临床意义还没有得到证实。 充分调查。 流行病学研究表明， 压力性生活事件后的发病率增加， 并表明抑郁症， 过敏和某些癌症。 多项研究 显示了不同免疫参数的损伤， 心理压力 很少有研究已经做了关于 抑郁症患者的免疫状态。 这个问题 特别有趣的是，最近的研究发现， 下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺功能紊乱的患者 轴的活动往往导致分泌量过多 皮质醇一种免疫抑制激素 我们最近提出了一个假设，即抑郁症可能 伴随着免疫反应的受损， 解释报告的感染，过敏， 和癌症的关系。 我们自己的初步数据 实验室表明体外淋巴细胞促有丝分裂抑制 与正常对照组相比，抑郁症患者的活动。 这 建议旨在进一步探讨免疫的可能性， 抑郁症患者的功能障碍， 一系列免疫学测试，包括皮肤过敏 检测，淋巴细胞表面标记物分析，单克隆抗体 抗体，体外淋巴母细胞转化的评估 和自然杀伤细胞活性的测定。 抑郁症患者 将在抑郁症的急性期进行研究， 恢复后。 免疫功能的比较也将是 在临床和神经内分泌亚型之间， 萧条 抑郁症患者也将与 精神分裂症控制，高度紧张，但其他 精神状态良好的对照组和正常对照组。

There has recently been evidence of links between the central nervous system and the immune system. Stressed animals show impairment in several immune parameters and are more likely than control animals to develop cancer when inoculated with an oncogenic virus. Similar derangements in host-defense mechanisms have also been observed with injections of glucocorticoids and lesions in the anterior hypothalamus. The clinical implications of these findings have not been adequately investigated. Epidemiological studies show an increase in morbidity rates following stressful life events such as bereavement and suggest an association between depression, allergy and certain forms of cancer. A number of studies have shown an impairment of different immune parameters following psychosocial stress. Very little research has been done on the immune status of patients with depressive illness. This issue is particularly interesting in view of recent findings in depressed patients of a disturbance in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity often resulting in the secretion of excessive amount of cortisol, an immunosuppressive hormone. We have recently formulated the hypothesis that depression may be accompanied by an impairment of immune responses that could explain the reported increase in the incidence of infection, allergy and cancer in depressed patients. Preliminary data from our own laboratory indicate a suppression of in vitro lymphocyte mitogenic activity in depressed patients compared to normal controls. This proposal seeks to further explore the possibility of immune dysfunction in patients with depressive illness by giving them a battery of immunological tests, including hypersensitivity skin testing, lymphocyte surface marker analysis with monoclonal antibodies, assessment of in vitro lymphoblast transformations and an assay of natural killer cell activity. Depressed patients will be studied both during the acute phase of depression and following recovery. Comparisons of immune function will also be made between clinical as well as neuroendocrine subtypes of depression. Depressed patients will also be compared to schizophrenic controls, highly stressed but otherwise psychiatrically-well controls and normal controls.