Association between cytokines and neuropsychiatric symptoms in paediatric narcolepsy patients: a cross-sectional study.

IF 2.2 3区医学 Q3 CLINICAL NEUROLOGY

BMC Neurology Pub Date : 2025-09-24 DOI:10.1186/s12883-025-04359-2

Xing Wei, Shuman Feng, Liuyi Li, Shuyan Feng

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Abstract

Background: Narcolepsy is often accompanied by depressive and anxiety symptoms, but the underlying immunological mechanisms remain unclear. Inflammatory cytokines may play a role in both disease onset and psychiatric comorbidities. This study aimed to investigate the association between circulating inflammatory cytokines and neuropsychiatric symptoms in paediatric narcolepsy patients, in order to explore the potential role of immune dysregulation in disease pathogenesis and comorbid mood disorders.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 78 paediatric narcolepsy patients and 80 age-matched controls. Cytokine levels and lymphocyte subsets were measured using ELISA and flow cytometry. Depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the HAMD-24 and HAMA-14 scales. Logistic regression was used to identify immune markers associated with narcolepsy diagnosis, while linear regression assessed their relationships with depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Results: Compared to healthy controls, paediatric narcolepsy patients exhibited significantly elevated levels of IL-6, IL-2, IL-4, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-17 A, alongside reduced IL-10 levels (all P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis identified IL-6 as an independent risk factor for narcolepsy (OR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.02-1.93, P = 0.003). Furthermore, IL-6 and the IL-6/IL-10 ratio were positively associated with depressive symptom severity as measured by HAMD-24 scores (P = 0.023 and P = 0.018, respectively). The IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio was independently associated with anxiety symptoms, as reflected by HAMA-14 scores (P = 0.007), after adjusting for confounding variables.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that pro-inflammatory cytokines, especially IL-6, are involved in the pathophysiology of paediatric narcolepsy and its related depressive and anxiety symptoms. IL-6 may serve as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for early intervention.

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儿童发作性睡病患者细胞因子与神经精神症状的关系：一项横断面研究

背景：发作性睡病常伴有抑郁和焦虑症状，但其潜在的免疫机制尚不清楚。炎症细胞因子可能在疾病发病和精神合并症中发挥作用。本研究旨在探讨循环炎性细胞因子与小儿发作性睡病患者神经精神症状之间的关系，以探讨免疫失调在疾病发病机制和共病性情绪障碍中的潜在作用。方法：本横断面研究纳入78例儿童发作性睡病患者和80例年龄匹配的对照组。采用ELISA和流式细胞术检测细胞因子水平和淋巴细胞亚群。抑郁和焦虑症状采用HAMD-24和HAMA-14量表进行评估。使用逻辑回归来确定与发作性睡病诊断相关的免疫标志物，而线性回归评估其与抑郁和焦虑症状的关系。结果：与健康对照组相比，儿童发作性睡症患者IL-6、IL-2、IL-4、TNF-α、IFN-γ和il - 17a水平显著升高，IL-10水平显著降低（均为P）。结论：这些发现提示促炎细胞因子，特别是IL-6参与了儿童发作性睡症及其相关抑郁和焦虑症状的病理生理过程。IL-6可能作为早期干预的潜在生物标志物和治疗靶点。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

BMC Neurology 医学-临床神经学

CiteScore

4.20

自引率

0.00%

发文量

428

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： BMC Neurology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of neurological disorders, as well as related molecular genetics, pathophysiology, and epidemiology.