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Using Precision Medicine with a Neurodevelopmental Perspective to Study Inflammation and Depression

  • Precision Medicine in Psychiatry (S Kennedy, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Psychiatry Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

To consider various precision medicine approaches to further elucidate the relationship between inflammation and depression and to illustrate how a neurodevelopmental perspective can help in this regard.

Recent Findings

Inflammation associates most strongly with phenotypes of depression that reflect illness behavior and/or metabolic dysfunction and obesity. A separate body of research has shown that maternal inflammation during pregnancy can alter brain circuitry important for mood regulation and/or reward in the developing fetus. Our research group is finding that maternal CRP levels differentially predict positive and negative affect in children assessed at age 4 years, depending on the timing of plasma sampling during pregnancy and the sex of the child.

Summary

Recent authors have stressed the need to use a variety of precision medicine approaches to refine our understanding of inflammation—depression links. Adding a neurodevelopmental perspective may help to address some of the methodological challenges in this active area of study.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the contribution and support of the Ontario Birth Study Team members. In addition, we thank and are extremely grateful to all the women who took part in this study.

Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the Cameron Parker Holcombe Wilson Chair in Depression Studies at CAMH and University of Toronto (awarded to Dr. Levitan), and the Alva Foundation. Funding for the Ontario Birth Study has been provided by Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 100 Stokes Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6J 1H4, Canada

    Robert D. Levitan

  2. Institute of Medical Science and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Robert D. Levitan

  3. Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Robert D. Levitan, Cindy X. W. Zhang, Stephen Lye & Stephen G. Matthews

  4. Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Julia A. Knight, Rayjean Hung, Jennifer Lye, Kellie Murphy, Alan Bocking, Stephen Lye & Stephen G. Matthews

  5. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Julia A. Knight & Rayjean Hung

  6. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Kellie Murphy, Alan Bocking, Stephen Lye & Stephen G. Matthews

  7. Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Leslie Atkinson

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  1. Robert D. Levitan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert D. Levitan.

Ethics declarations

The various components of this study including the informed consent protocol for the OBS and OBS-KIDS were approved by the research ethics boards of Mt. Sinai Hospital, the University of Toronto and CAMH.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Levitan, R.D., Zhang, C.X.W., Knight, J.A. et al. Using Precision Medicine with a Neurodevelopmental Perspective to Study Inflammation and Depression. Curr Psychiatry Rep 22, 87 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-020-01206-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-020-01206-8

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