Depression treatment response to ketamine: sex-specific role of interleukin-8, but not other inflammatory markers
Translational Psychiatry March 21, 2021 Jennifer L. Kruse, Megha M. Vasavada, Richard Olmstead et al. 47 citations
Lower baseline levels of the inflammatory marker interleukin-8 (IL-8) in females, but not males, trended toward predicting a better response to ketamine for depression. In 46 depressed patients receiving a single ketamine infusion, changes in IL-8 over time also differed by sex and treatment response: increasing IL-8 was associated with decreasing depression scores in females, while the opposite pattern appeared in males. Other inflammatory markers showed no significant relationships. These preliminary findings suggest that sex differences in IL-8 may help explain how ketamine works and could guide personalized depression treatment.