CytoSorbents Corporation (CTSO)

[Makenlight]

Study on Cytokine variations and mood disorders: IL-6 and TNF-a cytokines as they relate to mood disorders and many others. possibility of a new subject area for Cytosorbents, I read somewhere they were looking into PTSD and IL-6 in the past as part of the DARPA stuff.

Not the whole study just the end:


Concluding Comments Regarding Cytokine Involvement in Depression and its Comorbidities
The specificity of cytokine disturbances to depression has frequently been questioned. In this regard, it was demonstrated that despite the overlap that exists with respect to the symptoms of IFN-a-induced and idiopathic depression, there are differences between the two, leading to the suggestion that cytokines preferentially affect neural circuits associated with psychomotor activity, but have less of an effect on the processes that govern cognitive distortions concerning self-appraisal (Capuron et al., 2009). Furthermore, increased inflammatory activity has been reported in a variety of stress-related disorders, including bipolar disorder (Modabbernia et al., 2013), schizophrenia (Altamura et al., 1999), and post-traumatic stress disorder (Lindqvist et al., 2014), and has been associated with a number of chronic diseases including cancers, heart diseases, metabolic syndrome, diabetes and obesity, auto-immune illnesses, disorders of the digestive system (i.e., inflammatory bowel disease), and neurodegenerative disorders (Anisman et al., 2008). In essence, it is possible that altered cytokine functioning might create a general milieu that favors the development of pathology, but the specific disturbance that is expressed depends on the presence of still other factors being affected. This said, as most of these conditions are often comorbid with depression, it has been suggested that increased inflammation might be a common denominator underlying depressive symptoms across many neuropsychiatric and physical/medical conditions. Indeed, the link between depression and the development of illnesses, such as heart disease, is sufficiently strong to have prompted the suggestion that the presence of depression ought to be viewed as a marker for later physical illnesses (Hayley and Anisman, 2013). Just as stressful events, particularly those that involve social challenges, promote cytokine variations and several pathological conditions, social support has been effective in attenuating these outcomes. Considerable evidence indicates that the effectiveness of support depends on whom the support comes from, and the individual's social identity and social connectedness may be involved in the resolution of depression (Cruwys et al., 2013, 2014). It remains to be determined whether the positive effects of social identity and connectedness in attenuating depression operate through inflammatory processes.

http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2014.00416/full