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Transcriptomic profiling as biological markers of depression - A pilot study in unipolar and bipolar women
Monika Dmitrzak-Weglarz1, Aleksandra Szczepankiewicz2, Janusz Rybakowski3
1Department of Psychiatric Genetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
Objectives:
A significant challenge in psychiatry is the differential diagnosis of depressive episodes in the course of mood disorders. Gene expression profiling may provide an opportunity for such distinguishment.
Methods:
We studied differentially expressed genes in women with a depressive episode in the course of unipolar depression (UD) (n = 24) and bipolar disorder types I (BDI) (n = 13) and II (BDII) (n = 19), and healthy controls (n = 15).
Results:
Different types of depression varied in the number and type of up or down-regulated genes. The pathway analysis showed: in UD, up-regulated rheumatoid arthritis pathway (including ITGB2, CXCL8, TEK, TLR4 genes), and down-regulated taste transduction pathway (TAS2R10, TAS2R46, TAS2R14, TAS2R43, TAS2R45, TAS2R19, TAS2R13, TAS2R20, GNG13); in BDI, eight down-regulated pathways: glutamatergic synapse, retrograde endocannabinoid signalling, axon guidance, calcium signalling, nicotine addiction, PI3K-Akt signalling, drug metabolism - cytochrome P450, and morphine addiction; in BDII, up-regulated osteoclast differentiation and Notch signalling pathway, and down-regulated type I diabetes mellitus pathway. Distinct expression markers analysis uncovered the unique for UD, up-regulated bladder cancer pathway (HBEGF and CXCL8 genes).
Conclusions:
This pilot study suggests a probability of differentiating depression in the course of UD, BDI, and II, based on transcriptomic profiling.
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