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Blood Test Developed to Detect Depression and Bipolar Disorder

posted by martyb on Thursday April 08 2021, @10:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the Not-sure-whether-to-feel-happy-or-sad-about-this dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Blood Test Developed to Detect Depression and Bipolar Disorder:

While current diagnosis and treatment approaches are largely trial and error, a breakthrough study by Indiana University School of Medicine researchers sheds new light on the biological basis of mood disorders, and offers a promising blood test aimed at a precision medicine approach to treatment.

Led by Alexander B. Niculescu, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at IU School of Medicine, the study was published today (April 8, 2021) in the high impact journal Molecular Psychiatry. The work builds on previous research conducted by Niculescu and his colleagues into blood biomarkers that track suicidality as well as pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Alzheimer's disease.

"We have pioneered the area of precision medicine in psychiatry over the last two decades, particularly over the last 10 years. This study represents a current state-of-the-art outcome of our efforts," said Niculescu. "This is part of our effort to bring psychiatry from the 19th century into the 21st century. To help it become like other contemporary fields such as oncology. Ultimately, the mission is to save and improve lives."

The team's work describes the development of a blood test, composed of RNA biomarkers, that can distinguish how severe a patient's depression is, the risk of them developing severe depression in the future, and the risk of future bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness). The test also informs tailored medication choices for patients.

[...] In addition to the diagnostic and therapeutic advances discovered in their latest study, Niculescu's team found that mood disorders are underlined by circadian clock genes — the genes that regulate seasonal, day-night and sleep-wake cycles.

"That explains why some patients get worse with seasonal changes, and the sleep alterations that occur in mood disorders," said Niculescu.

Journal Reference:
H. Le-Niculescu, K. Roseberry, S. S. Gill, et al. Precision medicine for mood disorders: objective assessment, risk prediction, pharmacogenomics, and repurposed drugs [open], Molecular Psychiatry (DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01061-w)

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 09 2021, @01:25AM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 09 2021, @01:25AM (#1135127) Homepage Journal

    I was looking for some kinda link between this guy and C.S. Forester. He sure is blowing his own horn!

    The question is, can his work be replicated? I think we're all quite tired of hearing about breakthroughs that break nothing more than the definition of science.

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26159600/ [nih.gov]

    Results: Among 83 articles recommending effective interventions, 40 had not been subject to any attempt at replication, 16 were contradicted, 11 were found to have substantially smaller effects and only 16 were replicated. The standardised mean differences of the initial studies were overestimated by 132%. Studies with a total sample size of 100 or more tended to produce replicable results.

    --
    Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
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  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 09 2021, @01:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 09 2021, @01:48AM (#1135132)

    The question is, can his work be replicated?

    Not at your age and with the stuff you have available.
    Genetics from where you stand can be carried in a single way - sexual reproduction. Too late for you Runaway.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 09 2021, @01:55PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 09 2021, @01:55PM (#1135290)

    > The question is....

    Oh how smart you sound! Actually the question ls: who can be bothered+has funding+people to elevate this study by trying to replicate it.