The specific associations between antidepressant treatment and alterations in the levels of cytokines remain to be elucidated. In this study, we aimed to explore the role of IL-2, IL-4, IL-12, TNF-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E1"><mml:mi>α</mml:mi></mml:math>, TGF-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E2"><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:math>1, and MCP-1 in major depression and to investigate the effects of sertraline therapy. Cytokine and chemokine levels were measured at the time of admission and 8 weeks after sertraline treatment. Our results suggest that the proinflammatory cytokines (IL-2, IL-12, and TNF-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E3"><mml:mi>α</mml:mi></mml:math>) and MCP-1 were significantly higher, whereas anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and TGF-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E4"><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:math>1 were significantly lower in patients with major depression than those of healthy controls. It seems likely that the sertraline therapy might have exerted immunomodulatory effects through a decrease in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-12 and an increase in the anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-4 and TGF-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="E5"><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:math>1. In conclusion, our results indicate that Th1-, Th2-, and Th3-type cytokines are altered in the depressed patients and some of them might have been corrected by sertraline treatment.

Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokine Balance in Major Depression: Effect of Sertraline Therapy