Journal of Inflammation Research (Sep 2023)
Serum Protein Profiling Reveals a Decrease in Apolipoprotein A-IV During a Clinical Depressive Mood State
Abstract
Sora Mun,1 Seungyeon Lee,2 Yeeun Yun,3 Eun-Jeong Joo,4,5 Hee-Gyoo Kang,1– 3 Jiyeong Lee1,3 1Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Eulji University, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea; 2Department of Senior Healthcare, Graduate School, Eulji University, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea; 3Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Graduate School, Eulji University, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea; 4Department of Neuropsychiatry, School of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; 5Department of Psychiatry, Uijeongbu Eulji Medical Center, Eulji University, Gyeonggi, Republic of KoreaCorrespondence: Hee-Gyoo Kang, Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Eulji University, 553 Sanseong-daero, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea, Tel +82-31-740-7315, Email [email protected] Jiyeong Lee, Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Eulji University, 712 Dongil-ro, Uijeongbu-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea, Tel +82-31-951-3862, Email [email protected]: Depressive mood is a major psychiatric symptom that causes serious disturbances in daily life. Unlike physical symptoms, psychiatric symptoms are more difficult to evaluate objectively. Therefore, we aimed to discover biomarkers that reflect changes in serum protein metabolism during a clinical depressive mood.Methods: Serum protein profiling was conducted in participants who were not experiencing a current depressive episode (healthy individuals and patients in remission). Serum proteins were identified and quantified using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Differentially expressed proteins with a p-value < 0.05 were selected, and candidate biomarkers were verified using multiple reaction monitoring analysis for absolute quantification.Results: Apolipoprotein A-IV levels were lower in the group with a current episode of depression than in the remission and healthy control groups. Further, fibronectin levels were also lower in the group with a current episode of depression than in the healthy control group but not in the remission group.Conclusion: We found that apolipoprotein A-IV-mediated inflammation is involved in clinical depressive moods, possibly by inducing neurological changes in the brain. Therefore, apolipoprotein A-IV and fibronectin levels may be explored as potentially novel biomarkers for detecting a current episode of depression.Keywords: biomarkers, depression, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, inflammation, neuroinflammation, serum proteomics
