Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21792309›Full record

ArticleNeuropsychiatric disease and treatment2011

A biological pathway linking inflammation and depression: activation of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase.

David M Christmas, Jp Potokar, Simon Jc Davies

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
47citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.8field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

47 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 116 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Inflammation and treatment strategies for suicidal behavior.The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry · 2026
    Review
  3. Review
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  5. Article
  6. Article
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  8. Anti-angiogenic mechanisms and serotonergic dysfunction in the Rgs2 knockout model for the study of psycho-obstetric risk.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
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  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Early Life Stress, Neuroinflammation, and Psychiatric Illness of Adulthood.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023
    Review
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

David M ChristmasAcademic Unit of Psychiatry, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Jp Potokar
Simon Jc Davies
University of Bristol · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This article highlights the evidence linking depression to increased inflammatory drive and explores putative mechanisms for the association by reviewing both preclinical and clinical literature. The enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase is induced by proinflammatory cytokines and may form a link between immune functioning and altered neurotransmission, which results in depression. Increased indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity may cause both tryptophan depletion and increased neurotoxic metabolites of the kynurenine pathway, two alterations which have been hypothesized to cause depression. The tryptophan-kynurenine pathway is comprehensively described with a focus on the evidence linking metabolite alterations to depression. The use of immune-activated groups at high risk of depression have been used to explore these hypotheses; we focus on the studies involving chronic hepatitis C patients receiving interferon-alpha, an immune activating cytokine. Findings from this work have led to novel strategies for the future development of antidepressants including inhibition of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, moderating the cytokines which activate it, or addressing other targets in the kynurenine pathway.

Indexed as

3-dioxygenasedepressionindoleamine 2inflammationkynurenineserotonintryptophan

Identifiers

PMID21792309
PMCPMC3140295
OpenAlexW2018298640

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.