Back to Search Start Over

Discovery and validation of acetyl-L-carnitine in serum for diagnosis of major depressive disorder and remission status through metabolomic approach

Authors :
Seungyeon Lee
Sora Mun
You-Rim Lee
Hyebin Choi
Eun-Jeong Joo
Hee-Gyoo Kang
Jiyeong Lee
Source :
Frontiers in Psychiatry, Vol 13 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Frontiers Media S.A., 2022.

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders that accompany psychophysiological and mood changes. However, the pathophysiology-based disease mechanism of MDD is not yet fully understood, and diagnosis is also conducted through interviews with clinicians and patients. Diagnosis and treatment of MDD are limited due to the absence of biomarkers underlying the pathophysiological mechanisms of MDD. Although various attempts have been made to discover metabolite biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment response of MDD, problems with sample size and consistency of results have limited clinical application. In addition, it was reported that future biomarker studies must consider exposure to antidepressants, which is the main cause of heterogeneity in depression subgroups. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to discover and validate biomarkers for the diagnosis of depression in consideration of exposure to drug treatment including antidepressants that contribute to the heterogeneity of the MDD subgroup. In the biomarker discovery and validation set, the disease group consisted of a mixture of patients exposed and unexposed to drug treatment including antidepressants for the treatment of MDD. The serum metabolites that differed between the MDD patients and the control group were profiled using mass spectrometry. The validation set including the remission group was used to verify the effectiveness as a biomarker for the diagnosis of depression and determination of remission status. The presence of different metabolites between the two groups was confirmed through serum metabolite profiling between the MDD patient group and the control group. Finally, Acetylcarnitine was selected as a biomarker. In validation, acetylcarnitine was significantly decreased in MDD and was distinguished from remission status. This study confirmed that the discovered acetylcarnitine has potential as a biomarker for diagnosing depression and determining remission status, regardless of exposure to drug treatment including antidepressants.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
16640640
Volume :
13
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.9e25910f9bb24010be2f6db8492daa8e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1002828