The effects of interleukin-6 neutralizing antibodies on symptoms of depressed mood and anhedonia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and multicentric Castleman ’s disease

Publication date: November 2017 Source:Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Volume 66 Author(s): Yu Sun, Dai Wang, Giacomo Salvadore, Benjamin Hsu, Mark Curran, Corey Casper, Jessica Vermeulen, Justine M. Kent, Jaskaran Singh, Wayne C. Drevets, Gayle M. Wittenberg, Guang Chen Cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), modulate neuronal plasticity and stress coping. Depressive symptoms and major depressive disorder (MDD) have been associated with changes in cytokines and their signaling. The current study examined the effect of IL-6 monoclonal antibody administration on depressive symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or multicentric Castleman’s disease (MCD). The data were obtained from two phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials designed to test the efficacy of sirukumab in RA (N=176) or of siltuximab in MCD (N=65), and were analyzed post hoc to investigate the effects of these IL-6 antibodies on depressive symptoms. The SF-36 questionnaire items on depressed-mood and anhedonia were combined as the measure for depressive symptoms. The study participants were grouped by the presence/absence of prevalent depressed mood and anhedonia (PDMA, meaning either depressed mood or anhedonia was present at least ‘most of the time’ and the other at least ‘some of the time’ for four weeks) at baseline; 26.1% of the RA sample and 15.4% of the MCD sample met criteria for PDMA at baseline. Compared with placebo, sirukumab and siltuximab produced signi...
Source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Category: Neurology Source Type: research