Association Between Socio-Affective Symptoms and Glutathione and CD4 and CD8 Lymphocytes in College Students

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of anxiety and depression in young students is associated with biosocial factors and scholastic stress. However, few studies have evaluated emotional-affective symptoms that are related to the immune system and antioxidant parameters in young individuals without diagnoses of affective disorders.Aim: This study aims to assess the relationship between emotional-affective symptoms and glutathione concentrations and CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte counts in college students.Methods: College students (n = 177) completed standardized psychometric instruments, including the Perceived Stress Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Familiar Social and Friends Support Scale, and Rosenberg Scale. Blood samples were biochemically analyzed. Analyses of variance were conducted between four groups according to symptom severity.Results: A considerable prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms was observed and negatively correlated with self-esteem and socio-familiar support. Perceived stress was sexually dimorphic. Although biochemical parameters were within reference ranges, glutathione, CD4, and CD8 tended to be lower in participants with anxiety and depression symptoms, which may be of predictive value.Conclusion: The relationship between antioxidant/immune parameters and socio-affective scores is latent in undiagnosed college students who might develop affective disorders. The findings suggest that during the initial development of affective disorders, stress management strategies should be implemented to help college students cope with the academic load and monitor negative changes in their physiological state.

Association between depression or anxiety symptoms and immune-inflammatory characteristics in in-patients with tuberculosis: A cross-sectional study

“…Chronic stress and Mtb infection have been considered to reduce immunity, such as decreased peripheral lymphocyte amount and impaired neutrophil phagocytosis. Moreover, the decreased CD4 and CD8 lymphocyte counts have been recognized to be tightly related to depressive and anxiety severity ( 10 ). The possible pathological mechanism is that mitochondrial fission caused by stress leading to purine metabolic disturbance in peripheral CD4 T cells can induce anxiety-like behaviors, indicating that CD4 T cells play an essential role in mediating mood disorders ( 42 ).…”

“…An obvious decrease of percentage or absolute counts of CD3, CD4, and CD8 T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with TB indicates significant immunosuppression or immune deterioration which is closely related to the severity of TB illness ( 9 ). CD4 and CD8 were detected to be lower among college students with anxiety and depression than in those without symptoms, indicating lower concentrations of immune parameters are associated with depression and anxiety symptoms among healthy adults ( 10 ).…”

Blood T‐helper 17 cells and interleukin‐17A correlate with the elevated risk of postpartum depression and anxiety

“…The abnormal differentiation of T cells plays a crucial clinical role in anxiety and depression by dysregulating the immune system 11–15 . For instance, the T‐helper 1 (Th1)/Th2 cells ratio is elevated in people with depression 13 ; moreover, it also has been reported that Th17 cells are increased in people with depression 16 ; furthermore, another interesting study also presents that Th17 cell‐secreted cytokine (interleukin‐17 [IL‐17]) are positively correlated with the severity of anxiety and depression among lung cancer survivors 15 .…”