• Alice Di Paolo, Valentina Membrino, Sonila Alia, Laura Nanetti, Lucia Emanuela Svarca, Massimo Leone Perrone, Luca Aquilanti, Laura Mazzanti, Arianna Vignini, Eleonora Salvolini, and Michele Severini.
• Department of Clinical Sciences, Section of Biochemistry, Biology and Physics, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
• J. Investig. Med. 2024 Aug 1; 72 (6): 522531522-531.

AbstractAnorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex disorder affecting mainly, but not only, teenagers. Researchers agree that AN is deeply associated with a pro-inflammatory state following an impaired immune system, resulting from altered levels of cytokines such as IL-1β and TNF-α, also impacted by the frequent depressive states. Thus, this case-control study aimed to evaluate the relationship between patients suffering from AN undergoing specialized eating disorder treatment for AN and pro-inflammatory cytokines. To reach our purpose, we assessed eating-related psychopathology and depressive symptoms and measured serum concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α before and after 6 months of integrated therapy (which included psychopharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, and nutritional treatment), to define whether selected pro-inflammatory cytokines could be considered a pathophysiological marker of the disorder. A sample of 16 young female patients with early diagnosis of AN, and without any previous treatment, and 22 healthy controls matched by age, sex, and socioeconomic status were enrolled. After 6 months of integrated therapy, a significant decrease of all selected pro-inflammatory cytokines was detected. In addition, an improvement in the anxiety-depressant aspects was also noted. In conclusion, the results obtained suggest that pro-inflammatory cytokines are indeed related to the pathophysiology of AN. However, further investigations, involving larger samples of patients with distinct subtypes of AN, are essential to confirm the current findings.

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