ArticleThe Journal of nutrition2016
Serum Immune System Biomarkers Neopterin and Interleukin-10 Are Strongly Related to Tryptophan Metabolism in Healthy Young Adults.
Article in The Journal of nutrition, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metabolomics and Human Health: Progress, Insights, Challenges and the Concept of a Healthy Metabolome.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery decreases intestinal aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling in male mice.Physiological reports · 2025Article
- Serum Neopterin, Biopterin, Tryptophan, and Kynurenine Levels in Patients with Fabry DiseaseBalkan medical journal · 2024Article
- The kynurenine and serotonin pathway, neopterin and biopterin in depressed children and adolescents: an impact of omega-3 fatty acids, and association with markers related to depressive disorder. A randomized, blinded, prospective study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- A cross-sectional study of inflammatory markers as determinants of circulating kynurenines in the Lung Cancer Cohort Consortium.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Changes in Tryptophan-Kynurenine Metabolism in Patients with Depression Undergoing ECT-A Systematic Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Associations of microbial and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase-derived tryptophan metabolites with immune activation in healthy adults.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Article
- Depression and anxiety in patients with multiple sclerosis treated with interferon-beta or fingolimod: Role of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase and pro-inflammatory cytokines.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2020Article
- IDO and Kynurenine Metabolites in Peripheral and CNS Disorders.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Review
- Assessment of neopterin and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity in patients with seasonal influenza: A pilot study.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2019Article
- Utility of Tetrahydrobiopterin Pathway in the Assessment of Diabetic Foot Ulcer: Significant and Complex Interrelations.Journal of diabetes research · 2019Article
- Tryptophan Metabolism in Inflammaging: From Biomarker to Therapeutic Target.Frontiers in immunology · 2019Review
- Lifestyle, metabolite, and genetic determinants of formate concentrations in a cross-sectional study in young, healthy adults.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2018Observational
- Peripheral Tryptophan - Kynurenine Metabolism Associated with Metabolic Syndrome is Different in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Diseases.Endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism journal · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChanges in tryptophan metabolism through the vitamin B-6-dependent kynurenine pathway have been linked to activation of the immune system.
objectiveWe hypothesized that blood concentrations of tryptophan and its catabolites were associated with biomarkers relevant to inflammatory processes in healthy noninflamed subjects.
methodsHealthy young adults (n = 737) aged 18-28 y without any known diseases or clinical evidence of inflammation provided blood samples for analysis of serum tryptophan/kynurenine metabolites, neopterin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and plasma pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) with LC-tandem mass spectrometry methodologies. A panel of cytokines was measured in serum by using high-sensitivity ELISA assays. Anthropometric and lifestyle data were collected by questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analysis to determine the effect of measured serum cytokine concentrations as predictors of tryptophan metabolites was performed on inverse normal-rank transformations of the data, adjusted for sex, body mass index, smoking, alcohol intake, and contraceptive use in women.
resultsMedian serum CRP and neopterin concentrations were well below established clinical cutoffs for inflammation. We observed significant positive associations between serum interleukin-10 (IL-10) and serum kynurenine (P = 0.0002), the kynurenine-to-tryptophan ratio (KTR) (P = 0.003), 3-hydroxykynurenine (P = 0.01), and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (P = 0.04). Serum neopterin was positively associated with kynurenine, the KTR (both P < 0.0001), and anthranilic acid (P = 0.004), and was negatively associated with serum tryptophan (P = 0.01) and PLP (P < 0.0001). Serum tumor necrosis factor α was also negatively associated with tryptophan (P < 0.001).
conclusionsIn healthy young adults with no apparent inflammatory conditions, serum tryptophan metabolites are significantly associated with key immune system biomarkers. The observed association between IL-10 and kynurenine is unexpected and suggests that kynurenine-linked mechanisms promoting negative regulation of inflammatory responses are associated with normal immune homeostasis.
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