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Surprising Science

Inflaming Depression?

"The big discovery has been that depressed patients who have proven most resistant to traditional treatments...seem to have particularly high rates of inflammation."

“The big discovery has been that depressed patients who have proven most resistant to traditional treatments seem to have particularly high rates of inflammation.” “Inhibiting inflammatory cytokines … seems to help alleviate depressive symptoms.” “If this association holds, keeping inflammatory cytokines in check could also help treat conditions beyond classic depression, such as cancer-related fatigue or even chronic fatigue syndrome, Miller noted. And because much of the inflammation in question seems to be coming from outside of the brain…new depression-targeting drugs might not even have to cross the blood-brain barrier to have palliative effects.”


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