CHANGES IN IMMUNOGLOBULIN, COMPLEMENT AND ACUTE-PHASE PROTEIN-LEVELS IN THE DEPRESSED-PATIENTS AND NORMAL CONTROLS

Recently, several authors have reported that immunoglobulin IgM, compl ement C3c, complement C4, and positive acute phase proteins (e.g., hap toglobin, alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein and alpha(1)-antitrypsin) were si gnificantly increased, while negative acute phase proteins (e.g., albu min and transferrin), were decreased in depressed patients. In the pre sent study, the levels of the immunoglobulin IgM, complement C3c, C4, alpha(1)-antitrypsinand haptoglobin were found to be significantly inc reased in 20 unipolar depressed patients compared to healthy controls. The concentrations of total protein and albumin were significantly re duced in these patients. The concentrationsof alpha(1)-protein, (which is related to alpha(1)-antitrypsin), and alpha(2)-protein (which rela ted to haptoglobin), were also significantly elevated in unipolar depr essed patients. The results suggest that unipolar depression is associ ated with an acute phase response, which is possibly caused by changes in cytokines and corticosteroid secretion in depressedpatients.