a study involving a mouse model of psoriasis found that IL-17a caused depression-like symptoms. In humans, researchers have also linked the molecule to treatment resistant depression.Research in mice has even implicated IL-17a in the development of autism. “The brain and the body are not as separate as people think,” says Prof.
Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroscientist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, MO.While working at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Prof.
Kipnis and colleagues found that IL-17a causes anxiety-like behavior in mice. “We are now looking into whether too much or too little of IL-17a could be linked to anxiety in people,” says Prof.