Altered Serum IL-6 and TGF-β1 Levels Are Associated With Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Case–Control Study

IF 2.3 4区医学 Q2 DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

Developmental Neurobiology Pub Date : 2025-09-23 DOI:10.1002/dneu.23004

Md. Ashrafuzzaman Alfi, Jannatul Naim, Iftekhar Ahmed, Mohammad Fahim Kadir, Sarder Mohammad Ashraful Islam, Mohiuddin Ahmed Bhuiyan, Md. Rabiul Islam

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Abstract

Background

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic psychiatric disease characterized by excessive and uncontrollable worry about common life events. Neurological, neurochemical, genomic, environmental, psychogenic, and immunological factors are thought to be involved in GAD. However, studies conducted to establish any suitable biomarkers for the assessment of anxiety disorder is limited. Hence, we aim to investigate the serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) in GAD patients.

Method

The present study enrolled 44 GAD patients and 44 healthy controls (HCs) from a tertiary care teaching hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A qualified psychiatrist assessed the study population based on the criteria mentioned in the DSM-5. We measured the serum levels of IL-6 and TGF-β1 using the commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits.

Results

We noted a significant reduction in serum IL-6 and TGF-β1 levels in GAD patients compared to HCs (IL-6: 7.72 ± 2.14 vs. 9.39 ± 1.22 pg/mL; p = 0.003, and TGF-β1: 386.77 ± 157.91 vs. 774.51 ± 327.73 pg/mL; p = 0.001). Moreover, a significant negative association was found between the levels of IL-6 and GAD-7 scores among the GAD patients (r = −0.395, p < 0.001). Lastly, the ROC analysis demonstrated a strong predictive accuracy with a moderately higher area under the curve (AUC) value (IL-6: 0.888 and TGF-β1: 0.891), relatively higher sensitivity (IL-6: 85.3% and TGF-β1: 85.6%), and higher specificity (IL-6: 86.7% and TGF-β1: 82.4%).

Conclusion

Our study findings underscore that lowered IL-6 and TGF-β1 levels might have a role in the pathophysiology and development of GAD. Therefore, the alterations of cytokines have a crucial role in evaluating the GAD patients. We suggest further interventional studies to determine the actual predictive performance of IL-6 and TGF-β1 in GAD.

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血清IL-6和TGF-β1水平改变与广泛性焦虑障碍相关：一项病例对照研究

背景：广泛性焦虑障碍（GAD）是一种慢性精神疾病，其特征是对日常生活事件的过度和无法控制的担忧。神经学、神经化学、基因组学、环境、心理和免疫因素被认为与广泛性焦虑症有关。然而，建立任何合适的生物标志物来评估焦虑症的研究是有限的。因此，我们旨在研究GAD患者血清中白细胞介素-6 （IL-6）和转化生长因子-β1 （TGF-β1）的水平。方法：本研究从孟加拉国达卡的一家三级保健教学医院招募了44名广泛性焦虑症患者和44名健康对照（hc）。一位合格的精神科医生根据DSM-5中提到的标准对研究人群进行评估。我们使用市售的酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）试剂盒检测血清中IL-6和TGF-β1的水平。结果：我们注意到GAD患者血清IL-6和TGF-β1水平与hc相比显著降低（IL-6: 7.72±2.14比9.39±1.22 pg/mL, p = 0.003, TGF-β1: 386.77±157.91比774.51±327.73 pg/mL, p = 0.001）。此外，GAD患者IL-6水平与GAD-7评分呈显著负相关（r = -0.395, p）。结论：我们的研究结果提示IL-6和TGF-β1水平的降低可能在GAD的病理生理和发展中起作用。因此，细胞因子的改变在评估GAD患者中具有至关重要的作用。我们建议进一步开展介入性研究，以确定IL-6和TGF-β1在GAD中的实际预测作用。

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来源期刊

Developmental Neurobiology 生物-发育生物学

CiteScore

6.50

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Developmental Neurobiology (previously the Journal of Neurobiology ) publishes original research articles on development, regeneration, repair and plasticity of the nervous system and on the ontogeny of behavior. High quality contributions in these areas are solicited, with an emphasis on experimental as opposed to purely descriptive work. The Journal also will consider manuscripts reporting novel approaches and techniques for the study of the development of the nervous system as well as occasional special issues on topics of significant current interest. We welcome suggestions on possible topics from our readers.