Brain, behavior, & immunity - health最新文献

{"title":"The role of inflammation in the development of tic symptoms in subjects with ADHD","authors":"Nagahide Takahashi ,&nbsp;Hidekazu Kato ,&nbsp;Yoshihiro Nawa ,&nbsp;Shiori Ogawa ,&nbsp;Kenji J. Tsuchiya ,&nbsp;Takashi Okada","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100981","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100981","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tourette's syndrome is characterized by multiple motor and 1 or more vocal tics that persist for more than 1 year since first tic onset. It is well known that subjects with Tourette's syndrome show varieties of comorbidities, and ADHD is one of the most prevalent comorbid symptoms. In most cases, ADHD symptoms is known to precede the onset of tic symptoms, but how subjects with ADHD develop Tourette's syndrome later in life remains unclear.</div><div>Both Tourette's syndrome and ADHD is highly heritable, and genome wide association studies of ADHD and Tourette's syndrome showed that Tourette's syndrome and ADHD are genetically related. In order to identify the factor to cause tic symptoms in subjects with ADHD, we conducted two-sample mendelian randomization analysis, gene-set analysis and identified <em>neutrophil degranulation</em> is a pathways specific to Tourette's syndrome. Molecular analysis showed that Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio may be relatively upregulated within the normal range in subjects with ADHD and Tourette's syndrome compared to subjects with ADHD only.</div><div>As the molecular analysis is still in its preliminary stages, the current results suggest that inflammation may be a contributing factor in the development of symptoms of Tourette's syndrome in subjects with ADHD. If these results can be replicated, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio could serve as a potential a biomarker for the risk of Tourette's syndrome.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100981"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143725726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Maternal mental health disorders associate with their child's asthma: A register-based study","authors":"Eetu P. Kanerva ,&nbsp;Minna M. Lukkarinen ,&nbsp;Marika H. Leppänen ,&nbsp;Bernd K. Pape ,&nbsp;Päivi T.K. Rautava ,&nbsp;Max R.J. Karukivi","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100979","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100979","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Maternal perinatal mental health disorders contribute to the development of their child's asthma. We investigated the associations between maternal mental health disorders one year before and three years after childbirth to their child's non-allergic asthma and allergic asthma.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>From 310701 children born in Finland from 2001 to 2006 and their 232240 mothers, health care registers were collected. Using the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision, a maternal mental health disorder was defined as any mental or behavioral disorder diagnosis (F00−99) from the one year before and three years after childbirth. The outcome was their child's asthma diagnosis (e.g., J45, J45.0, J45.1, J45.8, J45.9, or J46.0) at 7–12 years divided into allergic (J45.0) and non-allergic (J45.1) asthma.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Of the children, 19000 (6.1 %) were diagnosed with asthma and 12953 (5.6 %) of the mothers with a mental health disorder. The child's asthma was associated with a maternal mental health disorder (adjusted odds ratio 1.24; 95 % confidence interval 1.16−1.33), smoking during pregnancy (1.08; 1.03−1.13), asthma history (2.94; 2.82−3.06), the mother having a production <em>vs</em>. higher management/executive occupational role (1.16; 1.10−1.23), or the child being male (1.47; 1.42−1.52), all <em>p</em> <em>&lt;</em> .001. Maternal mental health disorders were associated more with their child's non-allergic asthma (1.37; 1.18−1.60) than allergic asthma (1.17; 1.05−1.30), both <em>p</em> <em>&lt;</em> .001.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Maternal mental health disorders perinatally and during the early life of their child were associated with their child's asthma supporting intrauterine and early-life programming on the effects of maternal mental health on their child's respiratory morbidity risk.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100979"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143697319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Oral microbiome composition is associated with depressive symptoms during pregnancy","authors":"Oryan Agranyoni ,&nbsp;Treva Rowley ,&nbsp;Sara B. Johnson ,&nbsp;Heather Volk ,&nbsp;William Schleif ,&nbsp;Raquel G. Hernandez ,&nbsp;Lauren M. Klein ,&nbsp;Robert H. Yolken ,&nbsp;Sarven Sabunciyan","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100978","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100978","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Oral microbiome dysbiosis has been linked to systemic disease with an underlying inflammatory etiology. However, the possible association of the oral microbiome in antenatal depression has received little attention.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Participants were pregnant women in the PREDICT prenatal cohort study (n = 400) who provided saliva during pregnancy. Using 16S rRNA sequencing, we determined the association between composition of the salivary microbiome and a continuous measure of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D): 0–60) as well as clinically significant depressive symptoms during pregnancy (CES-D score&gt; 16, n = 46) compared with women without clinically significant symptoms (n = 327).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>CES-D scores were associated with differences in bacterial levels in the salivary microbiome. Women with clinically significant depressive symptoms (CES-D≥16) had significantly lower abundance in nine bacterial taxa, including the <em>Neisseria</em> genus, which has previously been positively associated with oral health and negatively correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokines, mental health, and infant birth weight. Findings were not explained by body mass index, smoking, antibiotic administration, oral health problems, or gestational week. Prediction tools based on 16S sequences indicated that significantly lower levels of several pathways related to the biosynthesis of Menaquinol, Ectoine biosynthesis, and D-glucarate degradation, were associated with women with depressive symptoms.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Our findings underscore the potential relationship between the oral microbiome and antenatal depression, highlighting microbiome measures as a promising source of biomarkers for maternal mental health. This study suggests previously unexplored aspects for understanding the microbiome's composition in women with mental health problems, emphasizing the need for further longitudinal investigations to elucidate the temporal dynamics of the oral microbiome in pregnancy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100978"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143697249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Subjective cognitive, psychiatric, and fatigue symptoms two years after COVID-19: A prospective longitudinal cohort study","authors":"Henriikka Ollila ,&nbsp;Marjaana Tiainen ,&nbsp;Riikka Pihlaja ,&nbsp;Sanna Koskinen ,&nbsp;Annamari Tuulio-Henriksson ,&nbsp;Viljami Salmela ,&nbsp;Laura Hokkanen ,&nbsp;Johanna Hästbacka","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100980","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100980","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>COVID-19 survivors may present with cognitive and psychiatric symptoms long after the acute phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection.</div></div><div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>To determine subjective cognitive, psychiatric, and fatigue symptoms two years after COVID-19, and their change from six months to two years.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We assessed three COVID-19 patient groups of different acute disease severity (ICU-treated, ward-treated, home-isolated) concerning subjective cognitive functioning (AB Neuropsychological Assessment Schedule), anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder 7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire 9), post-traumatic stress (Impact of Event Scale 6), and fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory) with a mailed questionnaire approximately two years after acute COVID-19. We compared the results with those obtained six months after the acute disease. We studied whether any change emerged in the scores of symptomatic patients between six- and 24-month follow-ups.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Two years post-COVID-19, 58 ICU-treated, 35 ward-treated, and 28 home-isolated patients responded to the questionnaire. Subjective cognitive symptoms and fatigue emerged as the most common problems occurring in 30.6 and 35.5% of patients, respectively. In patients with clinically significant symptoms at six months, symptom scores for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress decreased at two years.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Two years after COVID-19, particularly self-reported cognitive symptoms and fatigue remained clinically significant, but also some recovery was evident in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100980"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143680105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Protocol for project MHISS: Mental Health and Immunodynamics of Social Stress","authors":"Daniel P. Moriarity ,&nbsp;Andrea C.M. Miller ,&nbsp;Japneet Kaur ,&nbsp;Ritika Prasad ,&nbsp;Matthew B. Figueroa ,&nbsp;George M. Slavich","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100977","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100977","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Growing evidence suggests that immune alterations may mediate the impact of stress on a plethora of negative psychological and somatic health outcomes. In particular, social stress has been demonstrated to be a particularly potent type of stress that modulates immune activity. Typically, this effect has been tested in the lab with acute social stressors. To build upon this research with greater external validity, we used the transition to college campuses for 1st year undergraduates as an ecologically valid social stressor in this novel, intensive longitudinal psychoneuroimmunology study.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>This NIMH-funded study collected data from 173 incoming 1st year students at a large public university in California, USA. Eligible participants were recruited using an online screener disseminated by the University registrar's office and had to be 17–19 years old, fluent in English, living on campus, not have self-selected any roommates, and have moved at least 100 miles to campus. Enrolled participants completed a baseline survey, daily self-report measures (3589 reports total), and blood draws every three days for 22 days (656 assayed samples), as well as an additional survey on the 22nd day. The start of the daily surveys was timed so that students' 7th survey was their first full day on campus (i.e., the day after move-in). We also describe sub-studies involving (a) diagnostic interviews at the end of students' 1st academic year, (b) extending the daily surveys to capture a full month for participants with a menstrual cycle, and (c) piloting a college transition resilience program.</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>Consistent with recent calls from the NIMH Director, this study uses the transition to college as an ecologically valid stress paradigm, in combination with novel intensive longitudinal assessment of immunology, to characterize social stress-related changes in biopsychosocial functioning over time. Studies resulting from this project will shed light on the dynamic interplay between key psychoneuroimmunological processes, advance the methodological standards of this field, and help identify intervention opportunities to improve mental health on college campuses and beyond.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100977"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143724316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corrigendum to “COVID-19 vaccination and the behavioral immune system: The newcomer and the old friend get along in preventing infection” [Brain Behav. Immun. Health. 2023]","authors":"Alfonso Troisi ,&nbsp;Roberta Croce Nanni ,&nbsp;Simone Antonio De Sanctis ,&nbsp;Giulia Dieguez ,&nbsp;Valeria Carola","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100971","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100971","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100971"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143869728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Associations between the neural-hematopoietic-inflammatory axis and DNA methylation of stress-related genes in human leukocytes: Data from the Washington, D.C. cardiovascular health and needs assessment","authors":"Manuel A. Cintron ,&nbsp;Yvonne Baumer ,&nbsp;Alina P.S. Pang ,&nbsp;Elizabeth M. Aquino Peterson ,&nbsp;Lola R. Ortiz-Whittingham ,&nbsp;Joshua A. Jacobs ,&nbsp;Sonal Sharda ,&nbsp;Kameswari A. Potharaju ,&nbsp;Andrew S. Baez ,&nbsp;Cristhian A. Gutierrez-Huerta ,&nbsp;Erika N. Ortiz-Chaparro ,&nbsp;Billy S. Collins ,&nbsp;Valerie M. Mitchell ,&nbsp;Abhinav Saurabh ,&nbsp;Laurel G. Mendelsohn ,&nbsp;Neelam R. Redekar ,&nbsp;Subrata Paul ,&nbsp;Michael J. Corley ,&nbsp;Tiffany M. Powell-Wiley","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100976","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100976","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chronic stress is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and elevated amygdala activity. Previous research suggests a plausible connection between amygdala activity, hematopoietic tissue activity, and cardiovascular events; however, the underlying biological mechanisms linking these relationships are incompletely understood. Chronic stress is thought to modulate epigenomic modifications. Our investigation focused on associations between amygdala activity (left (L), right (R), maximum (M), and average (Av) AmygA), and splenic (SpleenA), and bone marrow activity (BMA) as determined by ¹⁸Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) on Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) scans. Subsequently, we assessed how these markers of chronic stress and hematopoietic activity might relate to the DNA methylation of stress-associated genes in a community-based cohort of African American individuals from Washington D.C. at risk for CVD. To assess the relationships between AmgyA, SpleenA, BMA, and DNA methylation, linear regression models were run and adjusted for body mass index and 10-year predicted atherosclerotic CVD risk. Among 60 participants (93.3% female, mean age 60.8), M-AmygA positively associated with SpleenA (β = 0.29; p = 0.001), but not BMA (β = 0.01; p = 0.89). M-AmygA (β = 0.37; p = 0.01 and β = 0.31; p = 0.02, respectively) and SpleenA (β = 0.73; p &lt; 0.01 and β = 0.59; p = 0.005, respectively) were associated with both IL-1β and TNFα. Decreased M-AmygA, SpleenA, IL-1β, and TNFα were associated with methylation of <em>NFκB1</em> at cg07955720 and <em>STAT3</em> at cg19438966. Our findings suggest a potential association between AmygA, SpleenA, and pro-inflammatory cytokines in the setting of chronic stress, suggesting an adverse hematopoietic effect. Furthermore, findings reveal associations with epigenetic markers of <em>NFκB</em> and <em>JAK/STAT</em> pathways linked to chronic stress.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100976"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143643185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Elevated TDP-43 serum levels associated with postoperative delirium following major cardiac surgery","authors":"Christopher Simon,&nbsp;Occam Kelly Graves,&nbsp;Oluwaseun Akeju,&nbsp;Tina B. McKay","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100974","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100974","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Postoperative delirium is a recurring complication among vulnerable patients undergoing major cardiac surgery. While delirium has been associated with prodromal dementia, there is minimal evidence to support the causality of this nuanced relationship. Clarification as to how postoperative delirium might lead to neurodegenerative dementias, perhaps through evidence of contemporaneous biomarkers, would heighten the plausibility of a causal correlation. TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43), a nuclear protein essential for transcriptional events, has been linked to pathological aggregation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Circulating TDP-43 levels in cardiac surgical patients aged 60 years and older were evaluated in a biobank derived from the Minimizing ICU Neurological Dysfunction with Dexmedetomidine-induced Sleep (MINDDS) clinical trial. Serum total TDP-43 levels, measured with a single molecule array (Simoa), were compared across preoperative and postoperative day one timepoints according to delirium status assessed using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM). To investigate the temporal changes in serum TDP-43, an independent validation cohort of 25 patients aged 60 years and older undergoing major cardiac surgery was analyzed.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Total serum TDP-43 levels increased by 16.5% (95% CI: 5.9%–27.9%, p = 0.0021) on postoperative day one compared to baseline levels. This increase was more pronounced in patients who experienced delirium (median increase of 55.1%, 95% CI: 22.9%–96.4%, p = 0.0002). Further, these findings were conserved in multiple logistic regression models adjusting for treatment, age, sex, and baseline cognitive scores. In the validation cohort, TDP-43 levels were found to be significantly elevated immediately following cardiopulmonary bypass from the baseline, with a gradual decrease by postoperative day one.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Our findings demonstrate that post-cardiac surgery delirium among vulnerable patients is associated with significant elevations in circulating TDP-43. This relationship suggests that TDP-43 may serve as a prognostic biomarker for acute neurological insults and blood-brain barrier integrity following cardiac surgery. Overall, our results provide mechanistic insights into the inter-relationship between postoperative delirium and subsequent cognitive impairment, potentially offering new avenues for early intervention in at-risk surgical patients.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100974"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143594157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Observational and genetic evidence highlight the association of modifiable risk factors with the incidence and severity of neuroimmunological disorders","authors":"Jiang-wei Xia ,&nbsp;Jia-jian Li ,&nbsp;Yu Qian ,&nbsp;Jinmin Han ,&nbsp;Ming Lin ,&nbsp;Ming-yang Wang ,&nbsp;Teng Chen ,&nbsp;Guo-liang Chai ,&nbsp;Yi-nan Zhao ,&nbsp;Jun-wei Hao","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100975","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100975","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Myasthenia gravis (MG), multiple sclerosis (MS), and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) are a heterogeneous group of rare neuroimmunological disorders whose incidence rates have increased in recent years. The relationships between modifiable risk factors and neuroimmunological disorders are not fully understood.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We utilized multiple logistic regression to estimate the relationships between 38 modifiable risk factors and two neuroimmunological diseases using data from nearly 500,000 individuals in the UK Biobank. Additionally, we applied two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) analyses using genetic variants as instrumental variables to investigate the causal relationships of 32 modifiable lifestyle factors with 8 outcomes, representing risk and severity across three neuroimmunological diseases. To further explore the underlying mechanisms, mediation analysis was conducted to elucidate how significant associations might be mediated by intermediate variables.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Our observational and MR analyses consistently found significant associations (P &lt; 0.05) indicating the number of cigarettes smoked daily, television watching, waist circumference, and BMI are all positively associated with the risk of developing MG. In contrast, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and higher vitamin D levels are associated with a reduced risk of MS. Moreover, we discovered that the impact of television watching on the risk of MG was mediated by BMI (observational mediation analysis: 26.22%; MR mediation analysis: 9.90%).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>These findings underscore the importance of modifiable risk factors in the development of neuroimmune diseases and support the identification of personalized intervention and prevention strategies. Notably, BMI significantly mediates the relationship between television watching and MG, indicating potential for targeted interventions to mitigate the risk of MG.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"45 ","pages":"Article 100975"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143739451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social inhibition in depressed patients is associated with an altered activation profile of the interleukin-6-inducible transcription factor STAT3","authors":"Katharina von Knebel ,&nbsp;Julia Staab ,&nbsp;Anke Gregus ,&nbsp;Linus Remling ,&nbsp;Oliver Wirths ,&nbsp;Carsten Spitzer ,&nbsp;Christoph Herrmann-Lingen ,&nbsp;Holger M. Reichardt ,&nbsp;Thomas Meyer","doi":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100968","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bbih.2025.100968","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Numerous studies have described the role of STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3) in infections, but little is known on whether this transcription factor is linked to negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI), leading to social withdrawal as a typical symptom of various infections.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>In this study, we isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 63 consecutive depressed patients (mean age 41.4 ± 16.1 years; 40 females) before and after psychotherapeutic intervention and measured STAT3 tyrosine phosphorylation (pSTAT3) with and without <em>in vitro</em> interleukin-6 (IL-6) stimulation of these cells using flow cytometry. In addition, all study participants were assessed for NA and SI using the German version of the Type D Scale-14 (DS-14) questionnaire with a cut-off level of ≥10 for each subscale.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>While NA was unrelated to STAT3 activity, PBMCs from SI-positive patients had an increased baseline STAT3 activation level, which made the cells less sensitive to <em>in vitro</em> IL-6 stimulation (11.5% vs. 9.1%, p = 0.036). The stimulatory capacity, defined as the difference in pSTAT3 levels from IL-6-stimulated to unstimulated cells during hospitalization, was significantly lower in PBMCs from SI-positive than from SI-negative patients (−1.7% vs. 6.6%, p = 0.007). The sensitivity of PBMCs to IL-6 stimulation was negatively correlated with the SI score (r = −0.295, p = 0.019). Of note, the altered sensitivity to STAT3 phosphorylation remained stable, when adjusted for clinically relevant confounders in multivariate analysis (Exp(β) = 0.891, 95%-confidence interval = 0.804–0.988, p = 0.029).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>These findings point towards a possible relationship between STAT3 signaling and social inhibition in depressed patients.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":72454,"journal":{"name":"Brain, behavior, & immunity - health","volume":"44 ","pages":"Article 100968"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143526827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}