Wu Han, Zhou Jiao-Jiao, Chen Xue-Yan, Zhu Dan-di, Bao Feng, Zheng Wei, Ren Li, Pan Wei-Gang, Liu Chao-Meng
Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, 100088 Beijing, China.
Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, 510370 Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Alpha Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 24;26(2):39955. doi: 10.31083/AP39955. eCollection 2025 Apr.
This study investigated the association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene polymorphisms and antidepressant response in patients with first-episode late-life depression (LLD).
A total of 72 patients with first-episode LLD were recruited and 57 completed an 8-week course of antidepressant treatment. Participants were assessed at baseline and post-treatment using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Serum BDNF levels were measured via Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and BDNF gene polymorphisms were genotyped using the Agena® MassARRAY system.
After 8 weeks, 17 of the 57 patients with LLD showed effective treatment response (effective group), while 40 were classified as ineffective. Significant post-treatment improvements were observed across the cohort in HAMD-17 and RBANS scores, and serum BDNF levels compared with baseline ( < 0.05). However, the effective and ineffective groups did not have significantly different RBANS scores or serum BDNF levels ( > 0.05). Binary logistic regression identified male sex (OR = 10.094, = 0.007) and BDNF gene polymorphism (OR = 6.559, = 0.003) as predictors of treatment efficacy.
Antidepressant treatment for 8 weeks altered serum BDNF levels in patients with LLD, with male patients carrying the genotype potentially responded better to conventional antidepressants. The small sample size may limit the generalizability of these findings.
The study was registered at https://www.chictr.org.cn (registration number: ChiCTR1900024445).
本研究调查了首发老年期抑郁症（LLD）患者脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）基因多态性与抗抑郁反应之间的关联。
共招募了72例首发LLD患者，其中57例完成了为期8周的抗抑郁治疗疗程。使用17项汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HAMD - 17）和可重复神经心理状态评估量表（RBANS）在基线和治疗后对参与者进行评估。通过酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）测量血清BDNF水平，并使用Agena® MassARRAY系统对BDNF基因多态性进行基因分型。
8周后，57例LLD患者中有17例显示出有效的治疗反应（有效组），而40例被归类为无效。与基线相比，整个队列的HAMD - 17、RBANS评分以及血清BDNF水平在治疗后均有显著改善（<0.05）。然而，有效组和无效组的RBANS评分或血清BDNF水平没有显著差异（>0.05）。二元逻辑回归确定男性性别（OR = 10.094，= 0.007）和BDNF基因多态性（OR = 6.559，= 0.003）为治疗疗效的预测因子。
对LLD患者进行8周的抗抑郁治疗可改变其血清BDNF水平，携带该基因型的男性患者可能对传统抗抑郁药反应更好。样本量较小可能会限制这些发现的普遍性。
