Sirukumab: A Potential Treatment for Mood Disorders?

Convergent evidence indicates that abnormalities in the innate immune system may be pertinent to the pathogenesis, phenomenology, and possible treatment of several mental disorders. In keeping with this view, the targeting of interleukin-6 with the human monoclonal antibody sirukumab may represent a possible treatment and disease modification approach, for adults with brain-based disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder). A PubMed/Medline database search was performed using the following search terms: sirukumab; anti-IL-6; IL-6; major depressive disorder; inflammation. A systematic review was conducted of both preclinical and clinical trials reporting on the pharmacology of sirukumab or investigating the efficacy of targeting IL-6 signaling. Overall, sirukumab has been reported to be a safe and well-tolerated agent, capable of modulating the immune response in healthy populations as well as in subjects with inflammatory disorders (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis). Sirukumab’s effects on cytokine networks as part of the innate immune system provide a coherent rationale for possible application in neuropsychiatric disorders with possible benefits across several domains of the biobehavioral Research Domain Criteria matrix (e.g., general cognitive processes, positive valence systems). Amongst individuals with complex brain-based disorders (e.g., mood disorders), the dimensions/domains most likely to benefit with sirukumab are negative valence disturbances (e.g., anxiety, depression, rumination), positive valence disturbances (e.g., anhedonia) as well as general cognitive processes. We suggest that sirukumab represents a prototype and possibly a proof-of-concept that agents that engage IL-6 targets have salutary effects in psychiatry.