The researchers' goal with this new study was to determine if stopping inflammation could help a large spectrum of people whose depression is hard to treat, or only individuals who have high inflammation levels.During the trial, the experts used infliximab, a biological drug recently manufactured with the intent to fix inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.
Biological drugs mimic the way that substances made by the body's immune system work. Infliximab works by blocking tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which is involved in inflammation and has been found to be higher in certain depressed patients.