Project description:Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a moderately heritable disorder with a high lifetime prevalence. At present, laboratory blood tests to support MDD diagnosis are not available. Methods: We used a classifier approach on blood gene expression profiles of a unique set of non-medicated subjects (MDD patients and controls) to select genes of which expression is predictive for disease status. To reveal blood gene expression changes related to MDD disease, we applied a powerful ex vivo stimulus to the blood, i.e. incubation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 10 ng/ml blood). Results: Based on LPS-stimulated blood gene expression using whole-genome microarrays in 42 subjects (primary cohort; 21 MDD patients (mean age 42.3 years), 21 healthy controls (mean age 41.9 years)), we identified a set of genes (CAPRIN1, CLEC4A, KRT23, MLC1, PLSCR1, PROK2, ZBTB16) that serves as a molecular signature of MDD. These findings were validated for the primary cohort using an independent quantitative PCR method (P = 0.007). The difference between depressive patients and controls was confirmed (P = 0.019) in a replication cohort of 13 patients with MDD (mean age 42.8 years) and 14 controls (mean age 45.6 years). The MDD-signature score comprised of expression levels of 7 genes could discriminate depressive patients from controls with sensitivity of 76.9% and specificity of 71.8%. Conclusions: We show for the first time that molecular analysis of stimulated blood cells can be used as an endophenotype for MDD diagnosis, which is a milestone in establishing biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders with moderate heritability in general. Our results may provide a new entry point for following and predicting treatment outcome, as well as prediction of severity and recurrence of MDD. In total, 33 MDD patients and 34 healthy controls were analyzed using basal gene expression in whole blood, and gene expression from whole blood that was stimulated with LPS for 5-6 h, using microarrays. Patients were arbitrarily selected from all patients to serve as primary cohort (nMDD = 21 (MDD01-MDD21); nControls = 21 (Con01-Con21)), or replication cohort (nMDD = 12 (MDD22-MDD35); nControls = 13 (Con22-Con37)) using microarrays. This submission does not include Samples CON21_LPS or CON30_LPS.
Project description:Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a moderately heritable disorder with a high lifetime prevalence. At present, laboratory blood tests to support MDD diagnosis are not available. Methods: We used a classifier approach on blood gene expression profiles of a unique set of non-medicated subjects (MDD patients and controls) to select genes of which expression is predictive for disease status. To reveal blood gene expression changes related to MDD disease, we applied a powerful ex vivo stimulus to the blood, i.e. incubation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 10 ng/ml blood). Results: Based on LPS-stimulated blood gene expression using whole-genome microarrays in 42 subjects (primary cohort; 21 MDD patients (mean age 42.3 years), 21 healthy controls (mean age 41.9 years)), we identified a set of genes (CAPRIN1, CLEC4A, KRT23, MLC1, PLSCR1, PROK2, ZBTB16) that serves as a molecular signature of MDD. These findings were validated for the primary cohort using an independent quantitative PCR method (P = 0.007). The difference between depressive patients and controls was confirmed (P = 0.019) in a replication cohort of 13 patients with MDD (mean age 42.8 years) and 14 controls (mean age 45.6 years). The MDD-signature score comprised of expression levels of 7 genes could discriminate depressive patients from controls with sensitivity of 76.9% and specificity of 71.8%. Conclusions: We show for the first time that molecular analysis of stimulated blood cells can be used as an endophenotype for MDD diagnosis, which is a milestone in establishing biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders with moderate heritability in general. Our results may provide a new entry point for following and predicting treatment outcome, as well as prediction of severity and recurrence of MDD.
Project description:Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and repetitive behaviors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been recently recognized as potential biomarkers of ASD as they are dysregulated in various tissues of individuals with ASD. However, it remains unclear whether miRNA expression is altered in individuals with high-functioning ASD. Here, we investigated the miRNA expression profile in peripheral blood from adults with high-functioning ASD, and age and gender-matched healthy controls. Our findings may provide insights regarding the molecular clues for recognizing high-functioning ASD.
Project description:Analysis of gene expression in inflamed gastrointestinal tissue and blood from GI-symptomatic children with ASD compared to non-inflamed tissue and blood from typically developing GI-syptomatic children. The hypothesis being tested was that peripheral blood would yield a surrogate biomarker for GI inflammation in children with ASD.
Project description:Search for the biomarkers of major depressive disorder (MDD) has facilitated from the genes expressed in the patient’s blood cells. Because the severity of depressive symptoms and characteristics in patients with MDD are differed by the age at onset of first depressive episode, the potential transcriptomic markers in blood cells may also be different by the age at onset of MDD. In this study, we searched the transcriptomic markers of late-onset (onset ages ≥ 50 years) MDD (LOD) from the expressed genes in blood cells, and identified state-dependent biomarkers in the patients. We assessed the expressed genes in blood cells by the microarray and found that the expression levels of 3,066 probes were state-dependently changed in the blood cells of patients with LOD.
Project description:7 male OUD patients and 7 male health controls with demographic and clinical data matched were enrolled in this study. rRNA removed library and small RNA library were constructed using peripheral blood RNA. RNA-seq was used to investigate the peripheral transcriptomic changes between the two groups.
Project description:Search for the biomarkers of major depressive disorder (MDD) has facilitated from the genes expressed in the patientâs blood cells. Because the severity of depressive symptoms and characteristics in patients with MDD are differed by the age at onset of first depressive episode, the potential transcriptomic markers in blood cells may also be different by the age at onset of MDD. In this study, we searched the transcriptomic markers of late-onset (onset ages ⥠50 years) MDD (LOD) from the expressed genes in blood cells, and identified state-dependent biomarkers in the patients. We assessed the expressed genes in blood cells by the microarray and found that the expression levels of 3,066 probes were state-dependently changed in the blood cells of patients with LOD. Elderly (age â¥50 years) outpatients and inpatients with MDD corresponding to a DSM-IV diagnosis of the melancholy type of MDD episodes were studied. The depressive state was measured using the Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression (SIGH-D) rating scale. Syndromal remission was defined as a stage in which a participant did not meet the diagnosis of a MINI major depressive episode for a period of 2 consecutive months and had a SIGH-D score of less than 8. Twelve healthy individuals were also recruited. Blood was obtained from the participants and analyzed using an Agilent SurePrint G3 Human GE 8Ã60K v2 Microarray (Design ID: 039494).
Project description:Gene expression in blood of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was studied. Transcriptional profiles were compared with age and gender matched, typically developing children from the general population (GP) or IQ matched children with mental retardation or developmental delay (MR/DD). Keywords: autism analysis
Project description:Transcriptional profiling in the whole blood samples of healthy controls and major depression disorder (MDD) patients who have never been treated with depression medication. Samples included 20 healthy controls and 20 MDD patients who have never been treated with depression medication. Goal was to discover the differentially expressed genes.
Project description:BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly heritable mood disorder with complex genetic architecture and poorly understood etiology. Previous transcriptomic BD studies have had inconsistent findings due to issues such as small sample sizes and difficulty in adequately accounting for confounders like medication use. METHODS: We performed a differential expression analysis in a well-characterized BD case-control sample (Nsubjects = 480) by RNA sequencing of whole blood. We further performed co-expression network analysis, functional enrichment, and cell type decomposition, and integrated differentially expressed genes with genetic risk. RESULTS: While we observed widespread differential gene expression patterns between affected and unaffected individuals, these effects were largely linked to lithium treatment at the time of blood draw (FDR < 0.05, Ngenes = 976) rather than BD diagnosis itself (FDR < 0.05, Ngenes = 6). These lithium-associated genes were enriched for cell signaling and immune response functional annotations, among others, and were associated with neutrophil cell-type proportions, which were elevated in lithium users. Neither genes with altered expression in cases nor in lithium users were enriched for BD, schizophrenia, and depression genetic risk based on information from genome-wide association studies, nor was gene expression associated with polygenic risk scores for BD. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that BD is associated with minimal changes in whole blood gene expression independent of medication use but emphasize the importance of accounting for medication use and cell type heterogeneity in psychiatric transcriptomic studies. The results of this study add to mounting evidence of lithium's cell signaling and immune-related mechanisms.