The Diagnostic Value of the Combination of Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 for Major Depressive Disorder Diagnosis and Treatment Efficacy.

Background: Last decades of psychiatric investigations have been marked by a search for biological markers that can clarify etiology and pathogenesis, confirm the diagnosis, screen individuals at risk, define the severity, and predict the course of mental disorders. In our study, we aimed to evaluate if BDNF and IGF-1 serum concentrations separately and in combination might be used as biomarkers for major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnosis and treatment efficacy and to evaluate the relationships among those proteins and clinical parameters of MDD.

Methods: Forty-one MDD patients (according to DSM-5) and 32 healthy controls (HC) were included in this study.

Serum insulin-like growth factor-1 as a potential marker for MDD diagnosis, its clinical characteristics, and treatment efficacy validation: data from an open-label vortioxetine study.

Background: IGF-1 is an essential neurotrophin produced peripherally and in the brain. Impairments in the brain IGF-1 concentrations might be responsible for some aspects of major depressive disorder (MDD) pathogenesis, whereas peripheral IGF-1 could have the marker value. We aimed: 1) to compare serum IGF-1 levels in MDD patients and healthy controls (HC); 2) to elucidate possible associations between changes in IGF-1 expression and crucial characteristics of the current depressive episode, MDD course; 3) to evaluate IGF-1 dynamics after 8 weeks` vortioxetine treatment.

Major depressive disorder and accelerated aging from a peripheral IGF-1 overexpression perspective.

Over the past decades, data on the relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and accelerated aging processes were accumulated. Specific cognitive impairments, alterations in associated brain areas, a significant decrease in telomere length and expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase, oxidative and nitrosative stress, neuroinflammatory machinery, deficiency of growth factors (BDNF, IGF-1) in the brain of MDD patients resemble those that occur in aging. A decrease in the brain IGF-1 expression has been proven to disrupt mechanisms of neuroplasticity and promote cerebral inflammatory pathways, leading to morphological deterioration in the brain areas responsible for emotional and cognitive processing.

Cognitive-functional relationships in major depressive disorder: Crucial data from a Ukrainian open-label study of vortioxetine versus escitalopram.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental illnesses associated with impairments in different spheres of functioning. Cognitive deficits are currently investigated as a possible factor of functional decline. We aimed: 1) to assess the influence of cognitive domains among other MDD symptoms on functional impairment; 2) to compare effects of eight weeks` vortioxetine versus escitalopram treatments on cognitions and consequent influence on various domains of functioning.

Poststroke Depression Biomarkers: A Narrative Review.

Poststroke depression (PSD) is the most prevalent psychiatric disorder after stroke, which is independently correlated with negative clinical outcome. The identification of specific biomarkers could help to increase the sensitivity of PSD diagnosis and elucidate its pathophysiological mechanisms. The aim of current study was to review and summarize literature exploring potential biomarkers for PSD diagnosis.

Specific Cognitive-Psychopathological Phenotypes in Patients With Early Stages of Subcortical Vascular Neurocognitive Disorders: A Hospital-Based Case-Control Study.

Background: Diagnosis of subcortical vascular neurocognitive disorders' (ScVNCDs) is currently based on neuropsychological and neuroimaging approaches; nevertheless, clinical features, apart from cognitive impairments (CI), may provide additional information about ScVNCD phenotypes. We aimed to determine whether CI and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) form such clinical phenotypes in the mild and early stage of major ScVNCD.

Methods: Our sample included 88 cognitively normal elderly individuals, 100 patients with mild ScVNCD, and 60 patients with early major ScVNCD.

Insulin-like growth factor-1: a possible marker for emotional and cognitive disturbances, and treatment effectiveness in major depressive disorder.

Depression and cognitive dysfunction share a common neuropathological platform. Abnormal neural plasticity in the frontolimbic circuits has been linked to changes in the expression of neurotrophic factors, including IGF-1. These changes may result in clinical abnormalities observed over the course of major depressive disorder (MDD), including cognitive dysfunction.

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Patients with the Main Etiological Types of Mild Neurocognitive Disorders: A Hospital-Based Case-Control Study.

Background: The diagnostic construct of mild neurocognitive disorders (MNCDs) is substantially congruent with previously proposed criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MNCD/MCI is associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). Previous studies have examined the prevalence of NPS in amnestic and non-amnestic MCI subtypes; however, no studies exist for etiological types of MNCD.

Plasma Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor as a Biomarker for the Main Types of Mild Neurocognitive Disorders and Treatment Efficacy: A Preliminary Study.

Decreased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are assumed to play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of mild neurocognitive disorders (MNCDs). In this study, we compared plasma BDNF levels (at baseline and after two months of treatment with escitalopram) in patients with the main types of MNCDs and normal controls. 21 patients met the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for possible MNCD due to Alzheimer's disease (MNCD-AD); 22 patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for subcortical vascular MNCD (ScVMNCD) according to Frisoni et al.