SELANK AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM IN ANXIETY
Research in patients with depression indicates that Selank can suppress the gene responsible for the production of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6. Interestingly, this effect is only seen in patients with depression and does not appear to take place in healthy individuals. This suggests that Selank may be useful in treating people with anxiety-asthenic disorders, severe disorders in which anxiety is associated with fatigue, headache, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, nerve pain, and depression.
When comparing Selank to standard anxiolytic treatments, like benzodiazepines, the two treatments show similar benefits in reducing anxiety, but only Selank has any effect on asthenic symptoms like fatigue and pain. Part of the effect is likely due to Selank’s ability to modulated IL-6 expression while part is likely due to the peptide’s ability to alter the rate of breakdown of the body’s natural pain killers, enkephalins.
Testing of Selank in rats has revealed that the peptide regulates the expression of some 34 genes involved in the inflammatory process. These genes affect chemokines, cytokines, and receptors for both. In particular, Selank has been found to alter expression of BcI6, a gene that is heavily involved in the development of the immune system. This study, more than any other, revealed that Selank has very complex biological effects, but may help to deepen our understanding of how the immune system develops.
Selank and even fragments of Selank have been shown to temporarily alter gene expression for C3, CAsp1, Il2rf, and Xcr1 in the mouse spleen. By affecting these genes, Selank is able to alter the balance of the immune system and thereby modulate inflammation.
