The influence of inflammatory cytokines in physiopathology of suicidal behavior

Background: Based on the urgent need for reliable biomarkers in relation to suicide risk both for more accurate prediction as well as for new therapeutic opportunities, several researchers have been studied evidences of the potential participation of inflammatory processes in the brain, in particular cytokines, in suicide. The purpose of this review was to analyze the associations between inflammation markers and suicide. Methods: To achieve this goal, a systematic review of literature was conducted via electronic database Scopus using the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms: ''cyLokines, suicide arid inflammation. Through this search if was found 54 articles. After analyzing them 15 met the eligibility criteria and were included in the final sample. Results: One of the most mentioned inflammatory markers was InLerferon-a (FEN -a), a pro inflammatory cyrokine which has been shown to increase serum concentrations of pro inflammatory cyLokines such as inferleukin (IL) 1, IL 6, rumor necrosis facLor-a (TINE- a) and IFN-i, which are factors increased suicide victims and aLLemprers. In this line, IL -6 is not only found to be elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of suicide attempters, even its levels in the peripheral blood have been proposed as a biological suicide marker. Another study stated that increased levels of IL-4 and IL-13 transcription in the orbitofrontal cortex of suicides suggest that these cytokines may affect neurobehavioral processes relevant to suicide. Limitations: A lack of studies and great amount of cross-sectional studies. Conclusion: Inflammation may play an important role in the pathophysiology of suicide, especially, levels of some specific inflammatory cytokines. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.