Adjunctive Minocycline for Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Anna Gerst, Tej Murthy, Alisandrea Elson, David Driscoll, Marvin J Bittner, Sriram Ramaswamy

WMJ : official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin 2021 Dec

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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic, debilitating anxiety disorder. While there is evidence that antibiotics such as minocycline may help to improve symptoms in some psychiatric disorders, no human studies have evaluated their potential as a treatment for PTSD. We present results from 4 men aged 33 to 59 years who completed a 12-week pilot, prospective, nonrandomized, open-label clinical trial of adjunctive minocycline for veterans diagnosed with PTSD. All 4 patients showed reduction in PTSD symptoms at the end of the 12-week study, and 3 patients showed reduction in depression symptoms. Observed changes in inflammatory biomarkers are discussed. Previous studies have reported increased inflammation in PTSD, though evidence of a potential therapeutic effect of minocycline for PTSD has not been reported previously in humans. These findings suggest that antibiotics like minocycline may help to reduce symptoms of PTSD, though further investigation is needed to confirm these findings. Copyright© Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and The Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc.

Citation

Anna Gerst, Tej Murthy, Alisandrea Elson, David Driscoll, Marvin J Bittner, Sriram Ramaswamy. Adjunctive Minocycline for Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. WMJ : official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin. 2021 Dec;120(4):321-324