Depression Is Associated with Downregulation of IPS-1 in Chronic HBV-Infected Patients in a Sex-Dependent Manner.

BACKGROUND: Depression and anxiety can modulate immune-related molecule expressions. The chronic HBV-infected (CHB) patients suffer from inappropriate immune responses. Additionally, psychological disorders are prevalent among the patients. Thus, depression and anxiety may alter immune-related molecule expression. This study aimed to examine IPS-1 and RIP1 mRNA levels in CHB patients suffering from various degrees of anxiety and depression. METHODS: Sixty patients with CHB participated in this research and completed standard questionnaires to evaluate depression and anxiety. The expression levels of IPS-1 and RIP1 were examined using real-time PCR techniques. RESULTS: The result revealed that although the expression of IPS-1 and RIP1 did not change in the CHB patients with various ranges of depression and anxiety, IPS-1 was significantly decreased in the male CHB patients who suffered from mild, moderate, and severe depression when compared to the patients with no depression. CONCLUSION: So, it was hypothesized that depression may be associated with alteration in the expression of IPS-1 in a sex-dependent manner. In other words, it appears that the male CHB patients are at risk of depression-related alteration in immune-related gene expression.

Up-regulation of RIP1 and IPS-1 in chronic HBV infected patients.

IPS-1 and RIP1 are the main downstream molecules of RIG1 and MDA5, as intracytoplasmic receptors, which are the main receptors involved in recognition of internal and external viral double-stranded RNA. In this project, mRNA levels of IPS-1 and RIP1 were investigated in the peripheral blood immune cells of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. IPS-1 and RIP1 mRNA levels were measured in 60 CHB patients and 120 healthy subjects, using RT-qPCR technique. A significant increase in expression levels of IPS-1 and RIP1 was found in patients when compared to healthy individuals. There was no correlation between IPS-1 and RIP1expression levels with the serum levels of hepatitis B e-Antigen (HBeAg) and liver enzymes in patients. Based on the results, it seems that IPS-1 and RIP1 can participate in the induction of low chronic inflammation, which is a main cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.