Bipolar Depression and Lurasidone: What C-Reactive Protein Levels Can Tell Us About Response

Inflammatory processes have been variably associated with course and treatment responses in mood disorders. Piggybacking on a large industry-sponsored, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the atypical antipsychotic lurasidone (20–60 mg/day or 80–120 mg/day) for bipolar depression, investigators examined relationships between baseline levels of the acute phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP) and treatment response.

Of the 485 participants, 24% had high serum CRP (>5 mg/L) and 31% had low CRP (≤2 mg/L). Analyses of response at 6 weeks adjusted for body-mass index, age, sex, race, and social support. Antidepressant responses to high or low lurasidone doses were linearly related to baseline CRP levels. In patients with high CRP, about 60% …