{"doi":"10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100627","title":"A Placebo-Controlled Randomized Trial of the Effects of Escitalopram on Depressive Symptoms and Immune Function in People With HIV","abstract":"This study was a randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and improvement in depressive symptoms on innate immunity and inflammation in people with HIV (PWH). The sample’s (N=108) mean HAM-D17 (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression) score at baseline was 19.1 overall. Eligible participants were randomized to 10 weeks of double-blind therapy with either SSRI (escitalopram) or placebo. All participants concurrently received Computer-assisted Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CCBT). Peripheral blood was obtained from each participant at baseline and weeks 2, 4 and 10, and intracellular IF(Interferon)Nγ in NK (Natural Killer) cells, Lytic units (LU) per 107 NK cells (LUNK), IL(Interleukin)-6 and CRP (C-Reactive Protein) were measured. Participants showed substantial reduction in depressive symptoms during study with final HAM-D17 score of 8.00 overall (average decrease of 11.0 units). However there was no statistically significant effect of treatment, whether viewed as group by time interaction [F(1,166)=0.00, p=0.976] or main effect for group [F(1,667)=0.50, p=0.479]. We found no statistically significant differences between the groups on the immune parameters over time. There was little evidence that the magnitude of symptom improvement was associated with changes in immune measures. Our study did not demonstrate superiority of treatment with SSRI + CCBT vs. placebo + CCBT. Patients in both arms showed improvement of depression symptoms, which did not correlate with changes in immune markers. We found no evidence of decreased inflammation (IL-6, CRP) or immune restoration (LUNK or intracellular IFNγ) following treatment with CCBT with or without active escitalopram. While antidepressant treatment is indicated for PWH with depression, we observed no evidence of direct immunologic benefits.","journal":"Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science","year":2025,"id":577604,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9171,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":437712,"name":"Sergei Spitsin","orcid":"0000-0002-4231-9437","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":341598,"name":"Kevin G. Lynch","orcid":"0000-0002-0426-0323","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":749068,"name":"Chelsea D. Voytek","orcid":"0009-0006-6877-7109","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":749067,"name":"Menvekeh G. Daramay","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1487139,"name":"Elizabeth A. Hembree","orcid":"0000-0001-5121-4226","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":700297,"name":"Danielle Fiore","orcid":"0000-0003-2934-9508","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":597402,"name":"Robert A. Gross","orcid":"0000-0003-4258-3913","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":274060,"name":"J. Cobb Scott","orcid":"0000-0001-6538-9043","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":437714,"name":"Steven D. Douglas","orcid":"0000-0002-3748-3603","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":374312,"name":"Michael E. Thase","orcid":"0000-0002-6403-0861","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":212912,"name":"DWIGHT L. EVANS","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":75,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:58:16.148027Z","pmid":"41438415","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}