Posttraumatic stress disorder is associated with an enhanced spontaneous production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by peripheral blood mononuclear cells

• Published in: BMC psychiatry Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 40
• Main Authors: Gola, Hannah, Engler, Harald, Sommershof, Annette, Adenauer, Hannah, Kolassa, Stephan, Schedlowski, Manfred, Groettrup, Marcus, Elbert, Thomas, Kolassa, Iris-Tatjana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 29-01-2013; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Blood; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Case-Control Studies; Chemokine CCL2 - blood; Comparative analysis; Cytokines; Cytokines - blood; Female; Humans; Immune system; Inflammation; Interleukin-10 - blood; Interleukin-1beta - blood; Interleukin-6 - blood; Interleukin-8 - blood; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - chemistry; Male; Middle Aged; Postpositivism; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Pro-inflammatory cytokines; Proteins; Psychiatry; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - blood; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - physiopathology; Studies; Traumatic stress; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - blood; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1471-244X; 1471-244X
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-244X-13-40

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with an enhanced risk for cardiovascular and other inflammatory diseases. Chronic low-level inflammation has been suggested as a potential mechanism linking these conditions.
We investigated plasma cytokine levels as well as spontaneous and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in a group of 35 severely traumatized PTSD patients compared to 25 healthy controls.
Spontaneous production of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α by isolated PBMCs was significantly higher in the PTSD compared to the control group and even correlated with PTSD symptom severity within the PTSD group. In contrast, circulating plasma levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, or monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1 were not significantly altered in PTSD patients compared to healthy controls.
Our findings indicate that PBMCs of PTSD patients are already pre-activated in vivo, providing further evidence for low-grade inflammation in PTSD. This might possibly represent one psychobiological pathway from PTSD to poor physical health.