ArticleJournal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999)2014
Reversal of the Kynurenine pathway of tryptophan catabolism may improve depression in ART-treated HIV-infected Ugandans.
Article in Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reliability and validity of depression assessment among persons with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2014Pooled it
- Blue Monday: Co-occurring Stimulant Use and HIV Persistence Predict Dysregulated Catecholamine Synthesis.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2021Trial
- Article
- The kynurenine pathway in relation to depression and anhedonia symptom severity among women with HIV.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Review
- Exploratory Cohort Study of Depressive Symptoms in South Africans with HIV-1 Subtype C: Associations with Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites and Inflammatory Markers.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2026Article
- The association of HIV status and depressive symptoms in the Ndlovu Cohort study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Biomarkers of microbial translocation and generalized inflammation are associated with frailty among people with HIV.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Article
- Review
- Mental health burden among females living with HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder: key implications of the microbiota-gut-brain axis.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- Overamped: Stimulant Use and HIV Pathogenesis.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2023Review
- Perinatal Depressive Symptoms and Viral Non-suppression Among a Prospective Cohort of Pregnant Women Living with HIV in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- The kynurenine pathway in HIV, frailty and inflammaging.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- Depression and HIV: a scoping review in search of neuroimmune biomarkers.Brain communications · 2023Article
- Neuroinflammation in HIV-associated depression: evidence and future perspectives.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Review
- Markers of fungal translocation are elevated during post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 and induce NF-κB signaling.JCI insight · 2022Article
- Viral and Host Biomarkers of HIV Remission Post Treatment Interruption.Current HIV/AIDS reports · 2022Review
- HIV-related drivers of sexual compulsivity and sexuality in sexual minority men who use methamphetamine.Journal of neurovirology · 2022Article
- Microbiome-Related Indole and Serotonin Metabolites are Linked to Inflammation and Psychiatric Symptoms in People Living with HIV.International journal of tryptophan research : IJTR · 2022Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMajor depressive disorder is highly prevalent among HIV-infected persons, and depression symptom severity improves during the course of HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART). The potential biologic pathways explaining these phenomena remain unclear. We investigated the extent to which ART-mediated suppression of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan catabolism (via indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 and potentially other sources) may correlate with improvements in depression symptom severity in this setting.
methodWe used the first year of data from the Uganda AIDS Rural Treatment Outcomes Study, a prospective cohort of 504 HIV-infected individuals initiating their first ART regimen in rural Uganda. We fitted random-effects regression models to estimate the associations between plasma tryptophan, plasma kynurenine, dietary diversity, and self-reported depression symptom severity.
resultsGreater depressive symptoms were associated with both lower plasma tryptophan and higher plasma kynurenine/tryptophan (KT) ratio over 12-month follow-up. In multivariable-adjusted models, declines in KT ratio and increases in plasma tryptophan levels partially explained ART-mediated improvements in depressive symptom severity. The association between KT ratio and depression symptom severity was stronger among persons with protein-deficient diets than among those with protein-rich diets.
conclusionsIndoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1-mediated tryptophan catabolism may contribute to depression symptom severity among HIV-infected individuals, particularly among those with poor dietary protein intake. ART-mediated improvements in depressive symptom severity may also be at least partially mediated by immunologic mechanisms. Interventions to reduce immune activation, and dietary protein supplementation, may be promising strategies to further reduce depression in this setting.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.