SynthesisNeuroscience and biobehavioral reviews2020
Effect of immune activation on the kynurenine pathway and depression symptoms - A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 82 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
82 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 138 citations in OpenAlex.
- Phytochemicals in the treatment of patients with depression: a systemic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- Intravenous administration of LPS activates the kynurenine pathway in healthy male human subjects: a prospective placebo-controlled cross-over trial.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2021Trial
- Sleep fragmentation and heightened inflammation: A latent profile subtype predicting nine-year major depressive disorder severity in the MIDUS study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Integrated biomarkers of oxidative stress NLRP3 inflammasome and kynurenine pathway reflect disease severity and diagnostic discrimination in depression.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Mechanism-First Psychobiotics: Fermented Vegetables, Dairy, and Soy for Depression and Anxiety.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel Morpholine-Coumarin Derivatives for Inflammation-Associated Depression.Biomolecules · 2026Article
- Strategies for blood-brain barrier rejuvenation and repair.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2026Review
- Microbiome-Derived Short-Chain Fatty Acids and Tryptophan Metabolites in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Stool-Urine Multi-Omics Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Behavioral, antioxidant, and kynurenine pathway modulation of a specific strain of Ligilactobacillus salivarius in a preclinical model of depression.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Tryptophan metabolism alterations in neurological and psychiatric diseases: Molecular mechanisms and pharmacological targets.Metabolic brain disease · 2026Review
- Modulation of the Kynurenine Pathway: A New Approach for Treating Neurodegeneration.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Body talk: Correlates of gut-immune dysregulation phenotypes in people living with HIV who use methamphetamine.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- The kynurenine pathway in depression and schizophrenia: convergent signals, divergent states, and clinical signatures.EXCLI journal · 2026Review
- Harnessing Dietary Tryptophan: Bridging the Gap Between Neurobiology and Psychiatry in Depression Management.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Ceramides and neuroinflammation as immunometabolic drivers and biomarkers of major depressive disorder, treatment-resistant depression, and suicidal vulnerability.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- An Overview of Depression Pathogenesis: Prevailing Hypotheses and Associated Neurobiological Underpinnings Primarily Evidenced by Rodent Studies.Depression and anxiety · 2026Review
- Production, Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Strategies of Tryptophan Metabolites in CNS Diseases.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Article
- The inflammation-depression link: How social networks buffer or exacerbate risk.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
22 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
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Dysregulated kynurenine (KYN) pathway has been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. In this systematic review, we examined the relationship between kynurenine pathway metabolites (KYN, kynurenic acid KYNA, tryptophan TRP, quinolinic acid QUIN, KYN/TRP ratio) and depression symptoms in the context of pro-inflammatory activation and immune response. Out of 5,082 articles, fifteen studies were suitable; ten studies (N = 315 medically ill patients treated with interferon-alpha IFN-α) reported baseline and post-intervention plasma KYN, TRP and KYN/TRP ratios which were included in quantitative meta-analysis. Data from five studies were summarized (IFN-α, interferon-beta IFN-β, and lipopolysaccharide LPS). We found that IFN-α treatment in patients with chronic illnesses was associated with decreased TRP, increased levels of KYN and KYN/TRP ratio and depression scores from baseline to follow-up at both 4 and 24 weeks. Our findings suggest that increased risk of depression observed after immune-activating agents in patients with chronic medical illnesses is likely mediated by the kynurenine pathway. Further prospective studies are required to investigate the exact pathophysiology of the KYN pathway in depression.
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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.