Neuropsychopharmacology Unit, IRCCS San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
World J Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Sep;11(6):763-73. doi: 10.3109/15622971003611319.
Alterations of BDNF signalling in major depression (MD) are supported by studies demonstrating decreased levels of the neurotrophin serum and plasma content in MD patients. We conducted a replication study and we performed two meta-analyses on studies analysing serum and plasma BDNF levels in MD patients.
The samples were composed by 489 patients/483 controls for the meta-analysis on serum and by 161 patients/211 controls for that on plasma levels. We performed also subgroup analyses to examine whether the decrease in BDNF levels in MD was influenced by gender.
In the replication study we found decreased serum BDNF levels in MD patients (P<0.01) and we demonstrated that is down-regulated the mature form of the neurotrophin (mBDNF). No significant difference was evidenced for plasma BDNF levels. The meta-analyses showed a reduction of both BDNF serum (P<0.0001) and plasma levels (P=0.02) in MD. No difference in the effect size on serum BDNF was observed between males and females (P=0.18).
In conclusion, our results provide evidence of peripheral BDNF alteration in MD and support the rationale for further investigation aiming to the identification of biomarkers for differential diagnosis and personalization of therapies in this disorder.
有研究表明，重度抑郁症（MD）患者的神经生长因子血清和血浆含量降低，这支持了 BDNF 信号转导在 MD 中的改变。我们进行了一项复制研究，并对分析 MD 患者血清和血浆 BDNF 水平的研究进行了两项荟萃分析。
样本由 489 名患者/483 名对照组成，用于血清荟萃分析，由 161 名患者/211 名对照组成，用于血浆水平荟萃分析。我们还进行了亚组分析，以检查 MD 中 BDNF 水平的降低是否受性别影响。
在复制研究中，我们发现 MD 患者的血清 BDNF 水平降低（P<0.01），并证明神经生长因子的成熟形式（mBDNF）下调。血浆 BDNF 水平没有显著差异。荟萃分析显示 MD 患者血清（P<0.0001）和血浆（P=0.02）BDNF 水平降低。男性和女性之间血清 BDNF 的效应大小无差异（P=0.18）。
总之，我们的结果提供了 MD 外周 BDNF 改变的证据，并支持进一步研究的理由，旨在确定该疾病的鉴别诊断和治疗个体化的生物标志物。
