From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression.

Major life stressors, especially those involving interpersonal stress and social rejection, are among the strongest proximal risk factors for depression. In this review, we propose a biologically plausible, multilevel theory that describes neural, physiologic, molecular, and genomic mechanisms that link experiences of social-environmental stress with internal biological processes that drive depression pathogenesis. Central to this social signal transduction theory of depression is the hypothesis that experiences of social threat and adversity up-regulate components of the immune system involved in inflammation. The key mediators of this response, called proinflammatory cytokines, can in turn elicit profound…

• BW
  Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: R01 CA140933, R01 AG034588, R01 AG026364, R01 CA160245, R01 CA119159, R01 HL095799, R01 DA032922, and P30 AG028748