Methods
peripheral inflammation, ⩾1, inflammation, depressive, depressed, MDD
INFLAMMATION
MINDEP was a single-centre, randomized (1:1 minocycline/placebo) placebo-controlled, double-blind parallel group trial of adjunctive oral minocycline (200 mg/day) added to ongoing treatment in patients who had failed to respond adequately to at least one antidepressant in the current depressive episode and had elevated peripheral inflammation as shown by C-reactive protein (CRP) levels ⩾1 mg/L. This is a CRP threshold that, according to a recent meta-analysis, defines ‘elevated levels of CRP’ that are present in around 60% of depressed patients (Of note, the minocycline dose of 200 mg/day was the most consistently used (and proved to be safe) in prior trials in patients with MDD (All visits took place at the Clinical Research Facility of King’s College Hospital, London. Data from the same randomized clinical trial (RCT) on the longitudinal antidepressant effect of minocycline according to baseline levels of inflammation have been previously published (