The Importance of the Structural Similarity of Drugs Used for Depression and Inflammation, Two Comorbid Diseases
Growing evidence links inflammation to depression and the combination of antiinflammatory drugs with an antidepressant to treat depressive symptoms is currently suggested. There are only few studies concerning the molecular mechanism underlying this comorbidity, and many of them point
out the importance of the tryptophan pathway. There is yet no data that analyzes the structural similarity of the molecules used for the treatment of these comorbid diseases. This review aimed first to classify current antidepressant drugs and Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
according to their structure. Molecules with two aromatic rings linked with a heteroatom or a carbonyl group (vortioxetine, ketoprofen, diclofenac), or presenting a naphtyl moiety in their structure (duloxetine, agomelatine, naproxen, nabumetone) were found to be structurally related. The
antidepressant activity of these NSAIDs and the anti-inflammatory activity of these antidepressants were investigated. The literature search interestingly revealed reports indicating a serotonin-related antidepressant activity of the NSAIDs for structures found to be structurally similar to
some antidepressants. Similarly, the antiinflammatory activity of the corresponding antidepressants was found to be correlated to the tryptophan metabolism pathway. These findings suggest a common molecular mechanism involved in both of the diseases and exhibit the importance of the molecular
structure for a drug to be a potent antidepressant and/or anti-inflammatory agent.
Keywords: Antidepressant; Chemical structure; Comorbid diseases; Cytokine; Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; Tryptophan
Document Type: Review Article
Publication date: 01 June 2018
This article was made available online on 31 August 2018 as a Fast Track article with title: "The Importance of the Structural Similarity of Drugs Used for Depression and Inflammation, Two Comorbid Diseases".
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