Investigating the association of a selected inflammatory protein panel with suicide attempts in the PsyCourse Study: A pilot study
Suicide is a significant global public health issue and expected to contribute increasingly to the global burden of disease over the coming decades. Suicide attempts are much more common than completed suicides and represent a major risk factor for and predictor of suicide. Increasing evidence links suicidal behavior to neuroinflammation, i.e., inflammatory processes in the brain. Therefore, in a subsample (n = 155) of the PsyCourse Study we investigated whether the circulating levels of 12 inflammatory proteins from the Olink® Explore 384 Inflammation Panel are associated with suicide attempts. We found significantly higher interleukin (IL)-1β levels in suicide attempters than in non-suicide attempters. Our finding indicates that the IL-1 signaling pathway plays a critical role in suicidal behavior and suggests that targeting this inflammatory pathway may help prevent suicide. This finding needs to be replicated in a larger sample.
Authors
- Mojtaba Oraki Kohshour (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1357-2636)
- Maria Heilbronner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8344-275X)
- Jérémie Poschmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9613-5297)
- Pierre Solomon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7187-2664)
- Eva Z. Reininghaus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5964-4087)
- Daniela Reich‐Erkelenz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7818-539X)
- Christian Figge
- Fanny Senner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3375-5314)
- Monika Budde
- Bernhard T. Baune
- Alba Navarro-Flores
- Georg Juckel
- Kristina Adorjan
- Andreas J. Fallgatter
- Udo Dannlowski
- Sergi Papiol
- Thomas G. Schulze
- Urs Heilbronner
- Peter Falkai
- Volker Arolt
- Max Schmauß
- Eva C. Schulte
- Jens Wiltfang
Institutions
- Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (IR)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Inserm (FR)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Medical University of Graz (AT)
- SUNY Upstate Medical University (US)
- University of Münster (DE)
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (AU)
- University Hospital Bonn (DE)
- University Hospital of Bern (CH)
- LMU Klinikum (DE)
- European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen (DE)
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Tübingen (DE)
- University Hospital Magdeburg (DE)
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (DE)
- LWL-Universitätsklinikum Bochum (DE)
- Bezirkskrankenhaus Augsburg (DE)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
- Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
- Nantes Université (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Published
- 2026-04-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2026.107862
- Primary Topic
- Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- FP7 Coordination of Research Activities