Immunotherapy could be used to treat depression, early trial suggests
An early clinical trial suggests that tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory drug, may be effective in treating depression for patients who do not respond to traditional antidepressants. The study involved 30 participants and indicated that those receiving tocilizumab showed greater improvements in depression symptoms compared to those given a placebo. Researchers believe this could represent a significant step towards more personalized treatment options for depression.
- ▪The trial involved 30 participants with moderate to severe depression who had not responded well to standard antidepressants.
- ▪Participants treated with tocilizumab were more likely to achieve depression remission compared to the placebo group, at 54% versus 31%.
- ▪The study is one of the first to test immunotherapy for depression and shows potential for tailored treatment approaches.
The Guardian — Science publishes from United Kingdom and files mainly under science. We currently carry 46 of its stories.
Story provenance
Source · retrieval · rights · ranking — open for full record
inspect →
Story provenance
Attribution is not the same as permission. This drawer separates discovery metadata, excerpts, WeSearch-generated summaries, reuse status, and whether the publisher receives the visit. Nothing here claims a legal grant the publisher has not made.
Record
| Original publisher | The Guardian — Science |
| Canonical URL | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/20/immunotherapy-drug-tocilizumab-potential-treatment-depression-uk-trial |
| Publication time | Wed, 20 May 2026 15:00:47 GMT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-20T15:10:02.612Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-20T15:10:02.612Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | M0mwCw4aIPBd |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Participants who received tocilizumab seemed to experience greater improvements over time compared with those given a placebo. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/ReutersView image in fullscreenParticipants who received tocilizumab seemed to experience greater improvements over time compared with those given a placebo. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/ReutersDepressionImmunotherapy could be used to treat depression, early trial suggestsUK scientists find tocilizumab, used for rheumatoid arthritis, may help antidepressant-resistant patientsTobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent Wed 20 May 2026 11.00 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleImmunotherapy could be used to treat depression among patients who have not responded to conventional antidepressants, according to the results of an early…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at The Guardian — Science.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from The Guardian — Science
