Plasma inflammatory cytokines and treatment-resistant depression with comorbid pain: improvement by ketamine
Journal of Neuroinflammation September 15, 2021 Yanling Zhou, Chengyu Wang, Xiaofeng Lan et al. 61 citations
Patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) who also experience pain show a higher antidepressant response rate and remission rate after six infusions of ketamine compared to those without pain. Before treatment, levels of inflammatory cytokines GM-CSF and IL-6 were elevated in the pain group. After ketamine, many inflammatory cytokines decreased in the pain group, while only TNF-α decreased in the non-pain group. Changes in IL-6 were linked to improvements in both pain intensity and depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that elevated inflammation contributes to individual differences in TRD patients with and without pain, and ketamine's antidepressant and analgesic effects may involve modulating inflammation.