[Clinical and immunological correlations in endogenous depression]

To study the possibility of using immunological parameters for the evaluation of the activity of endogenous process in depression and quality of response to psychopharmacotherapy.

Authors examined 42 patients, aged 20-55 years, with the prevalence of anxiety (n = 22) or apathy (n = 20) in the clinical picture of depression. The following immunological parameters were measured in the blood of the patients: degranulation activity of leukocyte elastase (LE), functional activity of alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor (alpha-1-PI); the level of autoantibodies to neuroantigen S-100B and myelin basic protein.

The involvement of inflammatory and autoimmune responses in the pathophysiology of endogenous depression was confirmed. Depression associated with increased levels of autoantibodies to brain neuroantigens (an autoimmune component) had a more complicated structure and showed the tendency to prolonged course and resistance to the therapy. The results suggest that some immunological parameters may be used as markers of patient's clinical status and quality and completeness of psychopathological symptom reduction.