Titre original A meta-analysis of cytokines in suicidal behavior
Ducasse Déboraha, b, c, d, , , Olié Emiliea, b, c, d, Guillaume Sébastiena, b, c, d, Artéro Sylvainec, Courtet Philippea, b, c, d
a Department of Psychiatric Emergency & Acute Crisis, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France
b University of Montpellier UM1, Montpellier, France
c INSERM U1061, Montpellier, France
d Fondamental Foundation, France
- Received 1 December 2014, Revised 27 January 2015, Accepted 1 February 2015, Available online 10 February 2015
 
dans revue Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
Abstract
Background:
 We conducted the first meta-analysis of studies comparing the plasma 
and CSF concentrations of cytokines in suicidal patients vs. 
non-suicidal patients or healthy controls. Methods: We searched
 Medline, Web of Science, and PsycINFO from 1965 to November 2014 for 
relevant studies. Manual searches of references and unpublished data 
were also included. Suicidal patients included severe suicide ideators 
and suicide attempters. Results: Eleven articles were available
 for the meta-analysis, for a total sample size of 494 suicidal 
patients, 497 non-suicidal patients and 398 healthy controls. Levels of 6
 independent plasma cytokines (IL2, IL6, TNFalpha, IFNgamma, IL4, 
TGFbeta) were meta-analyzed for plasma studies comparing suicidal vs. 
both controls. IL8 level was meta-analyzed for cerebrospinal fluid 
studies comparing suicidal patients with healthy controls. We reported 
with medium effect size, that suicidal patients had: (1) lower IL2 
plasma levels than both non-suicidal patients and healthy controls 
(medium effect size); (2) lower IL4 and higher TGFbeta plasma levels 
than healthy controls. Conclusion: Our results promote the 
hypothesis of altered inflammatory markers in suicidal patients, for 
both pro-inflammatory (IL2) and anti-inflammatory (IL4 and TGFbeta) 
cytokines.