Objective Diagnostic Markers and Personalized Intervention in MDD Patients

Summary

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, with high recurrence rate, suicide rate and disability rate. It's reported that the global burden caused by MDD will be up to the second rank among all the disease burdens by 2020. China is also confronted with the daunting challenges against MDD. It's assessed that the monthly incidence of MDD is 6.1%, non-hospitalizing rate reaches up to 92% and the non-treatment rate is approximate 95%. However, to date, the pathogenesis of MDD is obscure and the current therapies don't work well. Therefore, it's urgent and critical to elucidate the pathogenesis of MDD, to develop early diagnostic criteria and effective intervention in MDD. Considering the diversity of weights on genetic factor and environmental factor in MDD, in this project, the investigators aim firstly to explore the effect of "genetic-environmental interaction"on the pathogeny of MDD for classifying MDD into "genetic type", "environmental type" and "others" based on a case-control study. We next conduct the neurobiological, neurocognitive and psycho-behavioral assessments among MDD, schizophrenia and healthy groups to screen the salient endophenotypes for establishing the diagnostic models of MDD . The investigators further analyse the changes of these indicators after 8 weeks'medication to select the potential predictors for therapeutic evaluations and interventional options in MDD patients. Finally, the investigators continue a 2-year follow-up study to test and verify the predictors of prognosis in MDD patients.

Timeline

Start

2013-11

Primary completion

2016-12

Completion

2016-12

Publications

• Xin LM, Lin JY, Fan HZ, FengYan, Yu X, Su YA, Si TM. Neurocognitive function profiles in Chinese patients with melancholic vs. non-melancholic major depressive disorder. BMC Psychiatry. 2026 Apr 11;26(1):402. doi: 10.1186/s12888-026-08043-8.
• Cui F, Liu Q, Lv X, Tian H, Wei J, Zhang K, Zhu G, Chen Q, Wang G, Wang X, Zhang N, Huang Y, Si T, Yu X. Effect of childhood trauma on cognitive function in individuals with major depressive disorder and healthy controls. J Affect Disord. 2025 Feb 15;371:196-204. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.10.059. Epub 2024 Oct 19.
• Lin J, Li JT, Kong L, Liu Q, Lv X, Wang G, Wei J, Zhu G, Chen Q, Tian H, Zhang K, Wang X, Zhang N, Yu X, Si T, Su YA. Proinflammatory phenotype in major depressive disorder with adulthood adversity: In line with social signal transduction theory of depression. J Affect Disord. 2023 Nov 15;341:275-282. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.08.104. Epub 2023 Aug 30.
• Lin J, Su Y, Lv X, Liu Q, Wang G, Wei J, Zhu G, Chen Q, Tian H, Zhang K, Wang X, Zhang N, Yan H, Wang Y, Yu X, Si T. Childhood adversity, adulthood adversity and suicidal ideation in Chinese patients with major depressive disorder: in line with stress sensitization. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2022 Aug;272(5):887-896. doi: 10.1007/s00406-021-01375-4. Epub 2022 Jan 5.
• Cui F, Liu Q, Lv X, Leonhart R, Tian H, Wei J, Zhang K, Zhu G, Chen Q, Wang G, Wang X, Zhang N, Huang Y, Si T, Yu X. Severe sleep disturbance is associated with executive function impairment in patients with first-episode, treatment-naive major depressive disorders. BMC Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 19;21(1):198. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03194-2.
• Lin J, Su Y, Lv X, Liu Q, Wang G, Wei J, Zhu G, Chen Q, Tian H, Zhang K, Wang X, Zhang N, Wang Y, Yu X, Si T. Perceived stressfulness mediates the effects of subjective social support and negative coping style on suicide risk in Chinese patients with major depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2020 Mar 15;265:32-38. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.026. Epub 2020 Jan 10.
• Lin JY, Huang Y, Su YA, Yu X, Lyu XZ, Liu Q, Si TM. Association between Perceived Stressfulness of Stressful Life Events and the Suicidal Risk in Chinese Patients with Major Depressive Disorder. Chin Med J (Engl). 2018 Apr 20;131(8):912-919. doi: 10.4103/0366-6999.229898.
• Lv X, Si T, Wang G, Wang H, Liu Q, Hu C, Wang J, Su Y, Huang Y, Jiang H, Yu X. The establishment of the objective diagnostic markers and personalized medical intervention in patients with major depressive disorder: rationale and protocol. BMC Psychiatry. 2016 Jul 15;16:240. doi: 10.1186/s12888-016-0953-z.

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