Evaluation of TAFA5 / FAM19A5, pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, S100B and BDNF levels in adolescent patients with major depressive disorder

OBJECTIVE There are various recent studies showing that the major depressive disorder (MDD), which is increasing in prevalence and a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in the adolescent population, is associated with inflammation. Our aim is to contribute to the advanced molecular level understanding of the neuroinflammatory pathophysiology of depression by evaluating the serum levels of TAFA-5 protein as a new biomarker and its associated, inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress parameters, BDNF and S100B in adolescent patients with MDD. METOD: In the study, adolescents who were recently diagnosed and with no psychotropic drug usage and with active MDD have been compared with the age and sex matched healthy control group in terms of neurobiological variables. For this purpose, serum FAM19A5 level, cytokine levels, BDNF and S100B levels and oxidative stress parameters of both patient and control groups have been evaluated. The participants of this study have taken part in a semi-structured psychiatric interview and they filled out various questionnaires. RESULTS IFN-was significantly higher in adolescents diagnosed with MDD compared to healthy controls, IL-6 were significantly higher in individuals with medium or higher suicide attempt risk; IL-6 level was positively correlated with depression severity scores, irritability severity and somatic symptom severity in the whole group; IL1β level showed negative correlation with the severity of sleep disturbance in the whole group; FAM19A5 was found to be positively correlated with IL-6 and TNF-α in all group. CONCLUSIONS Although our results support that inflammation plays a role in MDD, serum biomarkers may not yet be detectable in the adolescent population, and perhaps MDD-related neurodegeneration can be prevented by early intervention. More studies are needed with the adolescent age group.