Analysis of soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1 and -2 and Fractalkine in depression and childhood adversity: an exploratory study.

Authors

An Bin Cho, Christian Otte, Carsten Spitzer, Berk Uesekes, Linn Kristina Kuehl, Julian Hellmann-Regen, Katja Wingenfeld

Published in

Neuropsychobiology. Pages 1. Sep 01, 2026. Epub Sep 01, 2026.

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are associated with altered inflammatory processes, dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and an increased risk of developing metabolic diseases. Soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1 and -2 (sTREM1, sTREM2) and Fractalkine (CX3CL1) are markers of the innate immune system regulating inflammatory response but are relatively underexplored in ACE and MDD.
In this exploratory study, we measured serum sTREM1, sTREM2 and CX3CL1 and pro-inflammatory cytokines in 23 women with ACE and MDD, 23 women with MDD without ACE, 22 healthy women with ACE with no current or lifetime MDD and 25 healthy women with neither ACE nor MDD. Additionally, explorative correlations between levels of sTREM1, sTREM2, CX3CL1 and cytokines, measures of trauma, depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-reported stress, metabolic parameters and cortisol release were calculated.
The four groups did not differ in levels of sTREM1 and sTREM2. Healthy women without ACE had higher CX3CL1 concentrations than both depression groups. They also had lower IL-8 and IL-18 levels than each of the other three groups (ACE+/MDD+, ACE-/MDD+, and ACE+/MDD-). sTREM1 and CX3CL1 were related to pro-inflammatory activity, such as TNF-α and NGF, while sTREM2 was associated with an increased metabolic risk. Furthermore, CX3CL1 correlated with lower stress ratings and a higher cortisol release to psychosocial stress induction, while sTREM2 correlated positively with symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Lower CX3CL1 and increased cytokines might be an unspecific correlate of mental disorders and early traumatic experiences. sTREM1, sTREM2 and CX3CL1 seem to be associated with somatic as well as mental health variables. Further studies are needed to investigate the specific role of sTREM1, sTREM2 and CX3CL1 in the interplay between physical and mental health.

PMID:
42678888
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Sep 2026.

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