Increased apoptosis in patients with major depression: A preliminary study

Apoptosis is a programmed cell death that can be observed in normal cells. Major depression poses a combination of a depressed and destructive autoimm une reaction. We measured apoptosis in the PBLs of seven patients,vith majo r depression and in age-and sex-matched controls. We observed significantly increased apoptosis in the PBLs of depressive patients (p < 0.05), These p reliminary results could contribute to an understanding of the interactions of the CNS with the immune system, which could lead to the increased vulne rability of the CNS in depressive disorders. Further studies are needed to establish these results.