Cytokines and anxiety in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients not receiving antidepressant medication: a little-explored frontier and some of its brief history.

Autoimmunity travelled from the theoretical roots planted by Burnet with the clonal selection theory and the early finding of a mouse providing a test for the role of the thymus as a source of forbidden clones. This chapter briefly reviews early work with the NZB mouse and presents results of an analysis of associations between cytokines and physical and psychometric parameters in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients not medicated with antidepressants. Some cytokines, particularly IFN-gamma, relate significantly to physical symptoms and anxiety. We conclude with the speculation that anxiety is linked to innate immunity and more severe neuropsychiatric disease in SLE to adaptive immunity.