Volume 172, 1 February 2015, Pages 219–230
Review
The influence of inflammatory cytokines in physiopathology of suicidal behavior
· V.A.L. Mináa, , ,
· A.O.A. Reisc,
Abstract
Background
Based on the urgent need for reliable biomarkers in relation to suicide risk both for more accurate prediction as well as for new therapeutic opportunities, several researchers have been studying evidence of the potential participation of inflammatory processes in the brain, in particular cytokines, in suicide. The purpose of this review was to analyze the associations between inflammation markers and suicide.
Methods
To achieve this goal, a systematic review of literature was conducted via electronic database Scopus using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms: "cytokines", "suicide" and "inflammation". Through this search it was found 54 articles. After analyzing them 15 met the eligibility criteria and were included in the final sample.
Results
One of the most mentioned inflammatory markers was Interferon-α (IFN-α), a pro-inflammatory cytokine which has been shown to increase serum concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF- α) and IFN-ϒ, which are factors increased suicide victims and attempters. In this line, IL-6 is not only found to be elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of suicide attempters, even its levels in the peripheral blood have been proposed as a biological suicide marker. Another study stated that increased levels of IL-4 and IL-13 transcription in the orbitofrontal cortex of suicides suggest that these cytokines may affect neurobehavioral processes relevant to suicide.
Limitations
A lack of studies and great amount of cross-sectional studies.
Conclusion
Inflammation may play an important role in the pathophysiology of suicide, especially levels of some specific inflammatory cytokines.
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