Quigley Bonnie L, Wellington Nathan, Levenstein Jacob M, Dutton Megan, Bouças Ana P, Forsyth Grace, Gallay Cyrana C, Hajishafiee Maryam, Treacy Ciara, Lagopoulos Jim, Andrews Sophie C, Can Adem T, Hermens Daniel F
National PTSD Research Centre at the Thompson Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, 12 Innovation Parkway, Birtinya, QLD, 4575, Australia.
Centre for Bioinnovation, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD, 4556, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2025 Feb 28;15(1):7176. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91840-0.
The aim of this study was to advance post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) understanding in older adults (48-77 years) by determining if circulating cytokines (IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-12p70, IL17A and TNFα), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) and neuroanatomical brain volumes (grey and white matter, hippocampus, and amygdala) significantly differed in those with versus without PTSD. While none of the tested cytokines showed a significant difference, serum BDNF and VEGF-A levels were found to be significantly higher in the PTSD cohort. The assay used for BDNF quantification was important, with differences in general BDNF detected, but not when pro- and mature BDNF were measured specifically. Additionally, BDNF genotyping revealed a significant difference in Val66Met genotype distribution by PTSD diagnosis, with Val66Met carriers generally having lower circulating levels of BDNF compared to their Val66Val counterparts, regardless of PTSD diagnosis. Neuroanatomically, an all-female subset was examined to find total grey and white matter volumes and left and right hippocampal volumes were significantly smaller in those with PTSD. Collectively, these results show that both novel (VEGF-A) and established targets (BDNF and neuroimaging) may serve as useful biomarkers for older adults with PTSD.
本研究的目的是通过确定循环细胞因子（IL-1β、IL-2、IL-4、IL-6、IL-12p70、IL17A和TNFα）、脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）、血管内皮生长因子（VEGF-A）以及脑解剖体积（灰质和白质、海马体和杏仁核）在患有与未患有创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的老年人（48 - 77岁）中是否存在显著差异，来加深对PTSD的理解。虽然所检测的细胞因子均未显示出显著差异，但发现PTSD队列中的血清BDNF和VEGF-A水平显著更高。用于BDNF定量的检测方法很重要，检测到了总体BDNF的差异，但在特异性测量前体BDNF和成熟BDNF时则未发现差异。此外，BDNF基因分型显示，根据PTSD诊断，Val66Met基因型分布存在显著差异，无论PTSD诊断如何，Val66Met携带者的循环BDNF水平通常低于其Val66Val对应者。在脑解剖学方面，对一个全女性亚组进行了检查，发现患有PTSD的人的总灰质和白质体积以及左右海马体体积显著更小。总体而言，这些结果表明，新的靶点（VEGF-A）和已有的靶点（BDNF和神经影像学）都可能成为患有PTSD的老年人有用的生物标志物。
