Association Between Clinical Symptoms and Inflammatory Markers in First-Episode Unmedicated Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Background: Depression represents a serious psychiatric disorder globally, imposing significant burdens on patients'daily lives. Numerous hypotheses including the inflammatory hypothesis. Changes in inflammatory factors within the bodies of individuals with depression may represent a key biological mechanism. Multiple clinical investigations have demonstrated that pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in the peripheral blood of depressed patients are markedly higher than in healthy controls, with the degree of elevation in these inflammatory markers positively correlating with the severity of depressive symptoms. We shall examine changes in specific pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors. Method: We employed the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect inflammatory cytokine levels in subject's serum samples. Clinical symptoms were assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), and the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (Self-Rating) (QIDS-SR16). Results: Compared to the healthy group, the depression group exhibited a significantly higher IFN-γ and IL-17 (p