Interleukin 6 as a Treatment Target for Depression

Can systemic interleukin 6 (IL-6) inhibition with tocilizumab improve depressive symptoms in patients with difficult-to-treat depression and low-grade inflammation?This randomized clinical trial of 30 participants, including 14 participants randomized to a tocilizumab infusion compared with 16 participants randomized to a saline placebo infusion, indicated a pattern of greater stepwise improvement in depression severity, somatic symptoms, fatigue, and anxiety, and better remission rate and symptom-level effects, although the study was not powered to detect statistical significance. Improvement corresponded to baseline high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) but not IL-6, suggesting that hs-CRP may better predict immunotherapy response in depression than drug-specific biomarkers.These findings suggest that the IL-6 or IL-6 receptor pathway could be a new treatment target for inflammation-linked depression, with repeat hs-CRP testing as a practical precision medicine strategy for identifying patients most likely to benefit from immunotherapy.

Corresponding Author: Éimear M. Foley, PhD (eimear.foley@bristol.ac.uk), and Golam M. Khandaker, PhD, (golam.khandaker@bristol.ac.uk), MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Augustine’s Courtyard, Orchard Lane, Bristol BS1 5DS, United Kingdom.

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.