PLASMA PHOSPHOETHANOLAMINE LEVELS AS A BIOMARKER FOR MONITORING MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER

Abstract Background We have reported that plasma phosphoethanolamine (PEA) concentration is a candidate biomarker of depressive disorder (1). Aims & Objectives To characterize this marker and investigate its clinical usefulness, we carried out an observational study while respecting the subjects' freedom to participate in the study. Method Psychiatric assessments were made with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5. The absolute concentrations of PEA in the samples from a psychiatric primary care clinic were measured at Human Metabolome Technologies to characterize its ability as MDD biomarker between 2011 and 2020. Results Here we show that 295 had depressive disorders, 264 had psychiatric disorders other than depression, and 17 had physical disorders without psychiatric disorders out of the 576 Japanese patients. In 170 patients with MDD only, in whom remission was easily identified, plasma PEA levels were measured at two or more time points. These levels dropped significantly in depressive episodes, increased as remission approached and were significantly higher in remission.Psychiatric diagnosis alone explained 38% of the variance in plasma PEA concentrations. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis also showed sufficient discriminatory power to detect depression, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.84 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.80-0.87). Discussion & Conclusion ConclusionsOur study suggests that plasma PEA concentration is a promising candidate monitoring biomarker for major depressive disorder (MDD) with strong diagnostic ability. Further studies are needed. References (1)Kawamura,N. Shinoda,K. Sato,H. Sasaki,K. Suzuki,M. Yamaki,K. Fujimori,T. Yamamoto,H., Osei-Hyiaman,D. and Ohashi,Y. (2018) 'Plasma metabolome analysis of patients with major depressive disorder.’ Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 72(5), pp. 349-361