Connecting the Dots Between Depression and Immune Health

Monday, May 23, 2022

Ann-Katrin “Anka” Grotle, a post-doctoral fellow in the Human Neural Cardiovascular Control Lab, was recently honored with the Neural Control Autonomic Regulation Section Research Recognition Award and an invitation to speak at the Experimental Biology Conference. Dr. Grotle’s award-winning research, Inflammatory phenotype and T-cell mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in young adults with major depressive disorder, was a CONHI collaborative project between three laboratories: the Neurovascular Physiology Laboratory, the Integrative Immunology Laboratory, and the Human Neural Cardiovascular Control Laboratory.

Grotle and her research partners’ project focused on exploring how major depressive disorder (MDD) affects T-cell function and circulating inflammatory markers. While the majority of all previous studies have focused on older adults with MDD, this study focused specifically on younger, otherwise healthy adults with MDD, an often-overlooked group when it comes to the topic.

“MDD is a prevalent mood disorder affecting approximately 280 million individuals globally and is a leading cause of disability,” Grotle explains. “This means it can significantly reduce one's ability to work and perform daily functions. Notably, the prevalence of MDD accelerates in young adulthood with many patients battling with this illness into midlife and later.” This is alarming considering that individuals with MDD have three times greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared to those without depression.

Her findings supported the hypothesis that young adults with MDDs show early signs of immune dysregulation, or simply put, an early marker of having a weakened immune system.

These findings set the stage for a larger project and a grant proposal that aims to delineate some of the tell-tail signs for greater cardiovascular disease risk in people with MDD. “I want to thank my postdoc mentor Dr. Fadel, and Drs. Greaney and Trott, whom I have had the great privilege of working closely with on this project, as well as all the lab members in the three labs that have helped me along the way,” Grotle shared. “This project truly was a great opportunity and experience for me as a trainee to get interdisciplinary training working with different laboratories to explore mutual interests and an important question.”

-Amanda Wenzel, Assistant Director CONHI Marketing and Communications