Drug and alcohol dependence
-
Drug Alcohol Depend · Nov 2019
Correlation between interleukin-6 levels and methadone maintenance therapy outcomes.
The outcome of methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) varies in each patient with opioid use disorder (OUD). Opioid abuse activates proinflammatory processes by increasing cytokine production and impairing neurotrophic factor expression, and possibly leads to a vicious cycle that hinders recovery. Therefore, we investigated whether markers of inflammation and neurotrophic expression correlate with the MMT outcomes in OUD patients. ⋯ Higher IL-6 levels were associated with poor MMT outcomes. Additional studies on regulating IL-6 expression to improve treatment outcomes in OUD patients might be warranted.