Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Sep 2018)

Increased serum levels of sortilin-derived propeptide after electroconvulsive therapy in treatment-resistant depressed patients

  • Roulot M,
  • Minelli A,
  • Bortolomasi M,
  • Maffioletti E,
  • Gennarelli M,
  • Borsotto M,
  • Heurteaux C,
  • Mazella J

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 2307 – 2312

Abstract

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Morgane Roulot,1,† Alessandra Minelli,2 Marco Bortolomasi,3 Elisabetta Maffioletti,2,4 Massimo Gennarelli,2,4 Marc Borsotto,1 Catherine Heurteaux,1 Jean Mazella1 1Molecular and Cellular Institute of Pharmacology, CNRS, Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, UMR 7275, Université Côte d’Azur, Valbonne, France; 2Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Biology and Genetic Division, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy; 3Psychiatric Hospital “Villa Santa Chiara”, Verona, Italy; 4Genetic Unit, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy †Morgane Roulot passed away on January 10, 2018 Purpose: Sortilin-derived propeptide (PE) and its synthetic analog spadin show strong antidepressant activity in rodents and, therefore, could be used as a biomarker to evaluate the clinical efficacy of antidepressant treatments. The aim of this study was to determine whether electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) modulates serum PE concentration in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).Patients and methods: Forty-five patients with major depressive disorder, who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria, were selected for this study.Results: We did not observe any difference in the PE levels between TRD patients and controls (z=0.10, P=0.92), but we found a strong significant increase between the PE levels measured just before (T0) and about 1 month (T2) after ECT (z=-2.82, P=0.005). A significant difference between T0 and T2 was observed only in responders (z=-2.59, P=0.01), whereas no effect was found in nonresponders (z=-1.27, P=0.20). Interestingly, we found a significant correlation between the increase in PE levels and decrease in Montgomery -Åsberg Depression Rating Scale scores for the total patient sample (P=0.03).Conclusion: This study indicates for the first time that ECT affects serum PE concentration in responders and, therefore, could contribute to the evaluation of the therapy success. Keywords: sortilin propeptide, electroconvulsive therapy, treatment-resistant depressed patients, diagnosis

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