ArticleTranslational psychiatry2022
Cytokines and tryptophan metabolites can predict depressive symptoms in pregnancy.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- From placenta to the foetus: a systematic review of in vitro models of stress- and inflammation-induced depression in pregnancy.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A sum of its parts: A systematic review evaluating biopsychosocial and behavioral determinants of perinatal depression.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Antidepressant Effects of NSAIDs in Rodent Models of Depression-A Systematic Review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Examining the association between prenatal inflammation and postpartum depression in a large, prospective pregnancy cohort in New York City.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Tryptophan metabolism: A hidden regulator of female reproductive health beyond fertility.Chinese medical journal · 2026Review
- The placental tryptophan pathway across gestation: implications for pregnancy outcomes.Human reproduction update · 2026Review
- Inflammatory, clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with depressive disorder during pregnancy in Brazilian women.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Melatonin promotes embryonic development by enhancing tryptophan metabolism and NAD + synthesis.BMC biology · 2026Article
- Contextual Regulation of the Kynurenine Pathway and Its Relevance for Personalized Psychiatry.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Review
- Multi-Layered Antidepressant Mechanisms of Gami-Soyosan in a Corticosterone-Induced Mouse Model.Journal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Harnessing Dietary Tryptophan: Bridging the Gap Between Neurobiology and Psychiatry in Depression Management.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Associations between prenatal inflammation and dimensions of depressive symptoms across the perinatal period.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Review
- Biomarkers of reproductive psychiatric disorders.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2025Review
- Serum Cytokines as Biomarkers for Comorbid Anxiety in Postpartum Depression: A Machine Learning Approach.Psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Parkinson's disease is characterized by vitamin B6-dependent inflammatory kynurenine pathway dysfunction.NPJ Parkinson's disease · 2025Article
- Association Between the Dietary Inflammatory Index and Depression in Mid-Pregnancy: Mediating Effect of Sleep Quality.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Blood transcriptomic signatures associated with depression, or the risk for depression, in pregnant women from the Psychiatry Research And Motherhood - Depression (PRAM-D) study.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- The kinase RIPK3 promotes neuronal survival by suppressing excitatory neurotransmission during central nervous system viral infection.Immunity · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Depression during and after pregnancy affects up to 20% of pregnant women, but the biological underpinnings remain incompletely understood. As pregnancy progresses, the immune system changes to facilitate fetal development, leading to distinct fluctuations in the production of pro-inflammatory factors and neuroactive tryptophan metabolites throughout the peripartum period. Therefore, it is possible that depression in pregnancy could constitute a specific type of inflammation-induced depression. Both inflammatory factors and kynurenine metabolites impact neuroinflammation and glutamatergic neurotransmission and can therefore affect mood and behavior. To determine whether cytokines and kynurenine metabolites can predict the development of depression in pregnancy, we analyzed blood samples and clinical symptoms in 114 women during each trimester and the postpartum. We analyzed plasma IL-1β, IL-2, -6, -8, -10, TNF, kynurenine, tryptophan, serotonin, kynurenic- quinolinic- and picolinic acids and used mixed-effects models to assess the association between biomarkers and depression severity. IL-1β and IL-6 levels associated positively with severity of depressive symptoms across pregnancy and the postpartum, and that the odds of experiencing significant depressive symptoms increased by >30% per median absolute deviation for both IL-1β and IL-6 (both P = 0.01). A combination of cytokines and kynurenine metabolites in the 2nd trimester had a >99% probability of accurately predicting 3rd trimester depression, with an ROC AUC > 0.8. Altogether, our work shows that cytokines and tryptophan metabolites can predict depression during pregnancy and could be useful as clinical markers of risk. Moreover, inflammation and kynurenine pathway enzymes should be considered possible therapeutic targets in peripartum depression.
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