Decreased IL-4 is the risk factor of depression in patients with Takayasu arteritis

Yaxin Zhang; Shiyu Yang; Anyuyang Fan; Juan Du; Na Gao; Lili Pan; Taotao Li

doi:10.3389/fmed.2024.1337206

Decreased IL-4 is the risk factor of depression in patients with Takayasu arteritis

Front Med (Lausanne). 2024 Feb 15:11:1337206. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1337206. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yaxin Zhang¹, Shiyu Yang¹, Anyuyang Fan², Juan Du¹, Na Gao¹, Lili Pan^#¹, Taotao Li^#¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Department of the National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders and Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital and the Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: Depression is a common complication in Takayasu arteritis (TA). Disorders of the immune system play an important role in both diseases. This study aimed to clarify the feature of cytokines in TA patients with depression.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, serum cytokines were tested in 40 TA patients and 11 healthy controls using the Bio-Plex Magpix System (Bio-Rad^®). The state of depression was measured by the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) in TA patients. Logistic regression analysis was performed to find the risk factors of depression in patients with TA.

Results: TA patients with depression had higher ESR, hsCRP, NIH, and ITAS.A than patients without depression (16.00 [10.00, 58.50]mm/H vs. 7.50 [4.50, 17.75]mm/H, p = 0.013; 7.60 [2.32, 46.52]mg/L vs. 0.71 [0.32, 4.37]mg/L, p = 0.001; 2.00 [2.00, 3.00] vs. 1.00 [0.00, 2.00], p = 0.007; 7.00 [4.00, 9.50] vs. 1.50 [0.00, 5.75], p = 0.012, respectively). Additionally, the lower age of onset and levels of IL-4, IL-13, eotaxin, and IP-10 were observed in the depressed group compared with the non-depressed (23.50 [19.25, 32.50]pg./ml vs. 37.00 [23.25, 42.50]pg./ml, p = 0.017; 2.80 [2.17, 3.18]pg./ml vs. 3.51 [3.22, 4.66]pg./ml, p < 0.001; 0.66 [0.60, 1.12]pg./ml vs. 1.04 [0.82, 1.25]pg./ml, p = 0.008; 46.48 [37.06, 61.75]pg./ml vs. 69.14 [59.30, 92.80]pg./ml, p = 0.001; 184.50 [138.23, 257.25]pg./ml vs. 322.32 [241.98, 412.60]pg./ml, p = 0.005, respectively). The lower level of IL-4 and age of onset were the independent risk factors for depression in TA patients (OR [95% CI] 0.124 [0.018, 0.827], p = 0.031; 0.870 [0.765, 0.990], p = 0.035, respectively).

Conclusion: Our data suggested that lower cytokine levels, especially IL-4, might be involved in the development of TA patients with depression. Clinicians can probably use serum IL-4 level testing as a potential indicator of depression in TA.

Keywords: Takayasu arteritis; cytokines; depression; disease activity; mental psychology.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 82270427, 81900448); Beijing Natural Science Foundation (nos. 7222043, 7232038).