Inflammatory Biomarker Outcomes in MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Veterans

A 2026 exploratory pilot study provides biomarker data from 23 U.S. Veterans with PTSD undergoing MDMA-assisted group therapy. The dataset includes within-person changes in interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, correlated with PTSD symptom severity scores from the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5). The study was conducted by Jenna E. Kachmarik and published on figshare.

Use Cases

• Analyze correlations between baseline IL-6 and TNF-α levels and baseline CAPS-5 PTSD symptom scores.
• Model the relationship between changes in IL-6 levels and changes in PTSD symptom severity (CAPS-5) following therapy.
• Examine effect sizes (Hedges' g) for pre-post intervention changes in CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α biomarkers.
• Investigate whether baseline IL-6 levels predict symptom improvement (CAPS-5 change scores) in a Veteran cohort.

Strengths

• Includes data from a specific, clinically relevant cohort of 23 U.S. Veterans with PTSD.
• Provides paired pre- and post-intervention measurements for three key inflammatory biomarkers: IL-6, TNF-α, and CRP.
• Correlates biomarker data with standardized clinical PTSD assessments (CAPS-5 scores).

Limitations

• Very small sample size of 23 participants limits statistical power and generalizability of findings.
• Exploratory, open-label pilot study design lacks a control group for comparison.
• Data is presented in a DOCX document (16.4 KB), not a structured tabular format, requiring manual extraction for analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Jenna E. Kachmarik.

Collection Method

Blood plasma samples collected from 23 Veterans at baseline and end-of-intervention during a clinical study (NCT05961527).

Time Range

Data corresponds to the period of the clinical pilot study, specific dates not provided.

Freshness

Last updated March 23, 2026.

Geography

United States (Veteran cohort).