Biomarkers for Depression in Human Plasma in a Population Sample

ABSTRACT: This West Coast Metabolomics Center pilot and feasibility project was granted to Roel Ophoff (UC Los Angeles ) and Steve Horwath (UC Los Angeles ) . Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most debilitating disorders in the United States with a 12-month prevalence of 6.7% in the adult population. The disorder affects millions of Americans daily and is a major health concern with enormous economic cost the society at large. Criteria for MDD diagnosis and treatment are based on various signs and symptoms not always fitting into strict diagnostic categories such as DSM-IV. Despite various known risk factors (such as family history, age, and gender), biological markers supporting diagnosis or prediction of MDD are unavailable. We have collected cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral blood of more than 600 subjects from the general population. For each of the participants we also obtained biometric information as well as behavioral trait measures. One of the measures is the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a well-established questionnaire for measuring severity of depression. Based on the BDI, roughly 5% of participants suffer from severe depressive symptoms while most of these subjects are not under treatment or receiving any medication for depression   In the current investigation, untargeted analysis of primary metabolites was conducted on age and gender matched human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma from subjects suffering with MDD ( n=50) and control subjects (n=50). Subjects were diagnosed as having MDD based on the Beck Depression Inventory. The primary objectives of this study were to 1) identify metabolites which discriminate between subjects with and without depression symptoms in the CSF and plasma and 2) how changes correlate between CSF and plasma. 

ORGANISM(S): Human Homo Sapiens

TISSUE(S): Blood

SUBMITTER: Oliver Fiehn  

PROVIDER: ST000062 | MetabolomicsWorkbench | Wed Jun 11 00:00:00 BST 2014

REPOSITORIES: MetabolomicsWorkbench