Andrew Miller

..Chronic activation of this innate behavioral and immune response may lead to depression and anxiety disorders in vulnerable individuals...

..In addition, neutrophils were found to have fewer GR than lymphocytes and monocytes. These results indicate a meaningful relationship between receptor expression and known sensitivity to glucocorticoids...

..These findings broaden the potential pathways by which PDE type 4 inhibitors can influence cellular function and indicate that these agents may have special utility in disorders associated with impaired GR-mediated feedback inhibition...

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..Depending on the relative balance between these behavioral accoutrements of an activated innate immune response, clinical presentations may be distinct and warrant individualized therapeutic approaches...

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..Further elucidation of T cell pathology may lead to new insights into immune system contributions to depression. Moreover, enhancement of T cell function may represent an alternative strategy to treat depression...

..Taken together, these findings suggest that factors which modulate glucocorticoid action (e.g. cytokines and antidepressants) will be relevant contributors to disease expression including behavioral toxicity and sickness behavior...

..Emphasis on insufficient glucocorticoid signaling in stress-related pathology encourages development of therapeutic strategies to enhance glucocorticoid signaling pathways...

..Motor slowing and its correlation with psychiatric symptoms suggest that altered basal ganglia function may contribute to the pathogenesis of IFN-alpha-induced behavioural changes...

..CONCLUSIONS: The HPA axis response to the acute administration of IFN-alpha reveals a vulnerability to IFN-alpha-induced depression, possibly due to sensitization of corticotropin-releasing factor pathways...

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..The results emphasize the importance of early life stress and affective symptoms and their potential relationship to substance abuse disorders in schizophrenia patients...

..Moreover, the relationship among IFN-alpha-associated CNS inflammatory responses, neurotransmitter metabolism, and behavior has yet to be established...

..All of these factors can be evaluated and addressed to limit neuropsychiatric morbidity during HCV treatment...

..Previous studies of CFS patients have implicated the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the immune system in the pathophysiology of CFS, although results have been equivocal...

..Recent data suggested that MDD and inflammation share common genes...

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..The aims of this study were to determine the relative influence of genetic and environmental contributions to inflammatory biomarkers, and to what extent correlations among these markers are due to genetic or environmental factors...

..When this occurs, IFN alpha and antidepressants should be stopped, an emergency psychiatric consultation should be obtained, and treatment with a mood stabilizer should be initiated...

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..While the etiology for this association is unknown, one possible mechanism relates to traumatic early life experiences, which have been shown to predispose individuals to both psychosis and substance abuse...

..To establish a nonhuman primate model of cytokine-induced depression, we examined the effects of IFN-alpha on rhesus monkeys...

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..We sought to examine whether MPO and other markers of inflammation are associated with MDD and whether the association is confounded by genetic or other shared familial factors...

..Taken together, this line of evidence demonstrates that psychoneuroendocrine research may ultimately promote optimized clinical care and help prevent the adverse outcomes of childhood trauma...

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..Our findings suggest that a history of childhood abuse per se is related to increased neuroendocrine stress reactivity, which is further enhanced when additional trauma is experienced in adulthood...

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..In addition, some behavioral and biological markers of the vulnerability for IFN-alpha-induced depression were identified. These findings provide important information concerning the relationship between cytokines and depression...

..conventional antipsychotic medications...

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..Finally, recent data suggest that aggressive treatment strategies initiated before inflammation-inducing cancer treatments might prevent behavioral alterations, including depression, before they occur...

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..The results indicate that both atypical antipsychotic medications provided significant additional improvement in symptom severity in patients with schizophrenia previously on conventional antipsychotic agents...

..Such alterations in ACC activity might in turn contribute to cytokine-induced behavioral changes...

..These findings suggest that targeting proinflammatory cytokines and their signaling pathways might represent a novel strategy to treat depression...

..Defining relevant risk factors for IFN-alpha-induced depression is essential for designing preventative treatment strategies...

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..Given the role of GR in depressive disorders, IFN-alpha effects on GR function in cells of hippocampal origin may contribute to HPA axis alterations and depressive symptoms in IFN-alpha-treated patients...

..Objective measures of neuropsychological performance have yielded inconsistent results possibly due to sample selection bias, diagnostic heterogeneity, comorbid psychiatric disorders, and medication usage...

..Interferon-alpha effects on serotonin metabolism appear to contribute to the mood and anxiety syndrome, while the neurovegetative syndrome appears to be related to interferon-alpha effects on dopamine...

..We explored the relationship of genetic variants of the serotonin transporter gene SLC6A4, a key regulator of the serotonergic neurotransmission, with both depressive symptoms and plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels...

..It is unknown to what extent the association between the Mediterranean diet and inflammation is due to genetic or other familial factors...

..These data indicate that IFN-alpha as well as other cytokines of the innate immune response may target basal ganglia nuclei, thereby contributing to fatigue-related symptoms in medically ill patients...

..However, the presence of ACTH appears to serve as a necessary permissive factor, enabling direct cytokine actions on the adrenal gland...

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..This article reviews published studies of SSRIs in the treatment of depression in patients with medical illnesses, with a focus on the contributions of paroxetine...

..Moreover, JNK pathways may represent a therapeutic target for normalization of GR function in these disorders...

..These findings support the hypothesis that central CRF hypersecretion is associated with a blunted ACTH response to exogenously administered CRF, explaining almost 60% of the variation in the ACTH response to CRF...

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..Because hyperprolactinemia may cause clinically significant side effects in patients treated with antipsychotic medications, clinicians should be familiar with the evaluation and treatment of antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia...

..The LCMV model could be exploited to examine pathophysiological mechanisms of neurodegeneration and to test pharmacological strategies aimed at increasing neurogenesis or rescuing multipotent progenitors...

..These symptoms include pain, wasting, fatigue, cognitive impairment, anxiety, and depression, many of which co-occur. There is growing recognition that at least some of these symptoms may share common biologic mechanisms...

..In this study, the volumes of the hippocampus and of control brain regions were measured in depressed women with and without childhood abuse and in healthy nonabused comparison subjects...

..This resulted in a number of recommendations that should improve the recognition and management of inflammation-associated symptoms in medically ill patients...

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..These concepts open exciting new avenues for translational research in the pathophysiology and treatment of cancer-related symptoms...

..Moreover, the work has served to instantiate brain-immune interactions as an essential component in psychiatric and medical co-morbidities and their impact on health and illness...

..These results indicate that IFN-alpha directly activates macrophages to release neopterin and to degrade tryptophan, but obviously treatment with INF-alpha did not affect homocysteine metabolism...

..Peripheral inflammation in RA may influence neurotransmitter metabolism, neuroendocrine function, synaptic plasticity, as well as growth factor production, which can modify neural circuitry and contribute to depression...

..Taken together, these studies will help identify novel targets for the treatment of mood disorders in both medically ill and medically healthy patients. ..

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..Moreover, this work will identify novel targets for the development of treatment strategies for sleep alterations in medically ill patients. ..

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..Taken together, these studies will help identify novel targets for the treatment of mood disorders in both medically ill and medically healthy patients. ..

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..Taken together, these studies will provide the foundation for developing new treatment strategies for immunomodulation drawing upon advances in neuroendocrinology and the neurosciences. ..

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..Further understanding of neuroendocrine- immune interactions in viral infections will provide the foundation for developing new therapeutic strategies to limit the immunologic and behavioral morbidity of viral diseases. ..

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