Selective Anti‐Inflammatory Actions of Curcumin on Cytokine Pathways in Major Depressive Disorder
Tangcong Chen, Yueyang Luo, Mengqi Niu, Jing Li, Mengdie Li, Yingqian Zhang, Michael Maes · 2026
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Description
Chen and colleagues test turmeric's active compound, curcumin, on immune signals in depression in this 2026 laboratory study. Major depressive disorder involves an overactive immune-inflammatory system, and curcumin is known to calm inflammation, but its exact targets were unclear. The team took blood from 18 patients and 18 healthy controls, stimulated the samples, and added curcumin at three doses.
Patients' blood showed the expected overactivation of inflammatory pathways and signaling proteins called cytokines. Curcumin selectively turned down those overactive pathways in patient samples, cutting several chemokines, proteins that attract immune cells, and the major inflammatory signal TNF-alpha. It did not fully normalize the profile and barely touched the calming pathways. In healthy blood, by contrast, curcumin mildly stimulated the immune system, and the authors stress that living-body studies must come before any treatment claims.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Tangcong Chen, Yueyang Luo, Mengqi Niu, Jing Li, Mengdie Li, Yingqian Zhang, Michael Maes |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 42 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |