MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Mucosal Immunity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1676160
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovations in targeting intestinal immunity for chronic inflammatory disordersView all 8 articles
Depression and anxiety in inflammatory bowel disease: Mechanisms and emerging therapeutics targeting the microbiota-gut-brain axis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen Longhua District Central Hospital, Shenzhen, China
- 2The First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
- 3Shenzhen Futian District Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen, China
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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), encompassing ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), represents a group of chronic, relapsing intestinal inflammatory disorders with incompletely understood etiology. Depression and anxiety, as prevalent psychiatric conditions, exhibit rising incidence rates; notably, IBD patients demonstrate heightened susceptibility to these disorders compared to the general population, thereby exacerbating disease burden and increasing risks of adverse clinical outcomes. Emerging evidence reveals shared pathophysiological mechanisms between IBD and depression/anxiety. This review specifically addresses depression and anxiety within the IBD disease context, integrating recent epidemiological evidence and risk factors. Centered on the gut-brain axis framework, we examine mechanistic underpinnings through two interconnected pathways: gut dysbiosis and neuroimmune interactions mediated by inflammatory cytokines and neurotransmitters. Finally, we explore therapeutic interventions for depression and anxiety in IBD based on these mechanistic insights, aiming to advance clinical and public health management strategies.
Keywords: depression and anxiety, gut microbiome, inflammatory bowel disease, Prevention and treatment, Public Health Management
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 22 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qian, Chen, Liu, Wang, Wu, Lin and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaokang Wang, kangtae_won@i.smu.edu.cn
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