Relation of depression, natural killer cell function, and infections after coronary artery bypass in women.

Background: After hospital discharge for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), infection is a common cause of morbidity. Although depression has been associated with immune dysfunction, its role in post-CABG infection is unknown.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to: 1) compare natural killer cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) and post-hospitalization infections in depressed and non-depressed women after CABG; and 2) test whether NKCC mediated the relationship between post-discharge depression and infections.

Infection, depression, and immunity in women after coronary artery bypass: a pilot study of cognitive behavioral therapy.

Context: Depression is common after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, but little is known about its effect on post-CABG inflammation or infection or about the most effective treatment for post-CABG depression.

Objectives: (1) To determine ifpost-CABG depression is associated with increased infectious illness and (2) to test effects of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) on depressive symptoms, inflammatory biomarkers, and post-CABG infections in depressed post-CABG women.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial.

Age, body mass index, and serum prostate-specific antigen correlate with bone loss in men with prostate cancer not receiving androgen deprivation therapy.

Objectives: Preexisting osteopenia and osteoporosis in men with prostate cancer are of concern due to accelerated bone loss during androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). We sought to identify risk factors for osteoporosis in men with prostate cancer who have not received ADT to help determine which patients may need bone mineral density (BMD) testing prior to ADT.

Methods: Lumbar spine and hip BMD testing were performed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in 34 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer who were not receiving ADT.

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression and natural killer (NK) cell dysfunction and anergy in heart failure.

Immune dysfunction has been postulated to play a role in the pathophysiology of chronic heart failure. We examined the relation between interleukin-6 (IL-6) production and natural killer (NK) cell dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure. Sera and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 82 patients with advanced heart failure.

Beta blocker and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor therapy is associated with decreased Th1/Th2 cytokine ratios and inflammatory cytokine production in patients with chronic heart failure.

Objective: To examine the potential impact of beta-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, medications which modulate beta-adrenergic signaling, on immune function in patients with chronic heart failure (HF).

Methods: 118 patients attending an HF center were tested for circulating levels of norepinephrine (NE), T cells and the inflammation-associated cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6). Levels of the cytokines interferon-gamma (IFNgamma), IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) produced by cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were measured in culture supernatants following T cell stimulation in vitro.