Resistant depression has its own biology

A study led by the Research Institute of the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona together with other European centers has identified that treatment-resistant depression is not a more severe form of major depression, but rather a “differentiated biological condition“.

The work, published in the magazine Brain, Behavior and Immunityhas analyzed blood from 300 people with major depressive disorder and has discovered that more than 5,000 genes behave differently in treatment-resistant depression compared to non-resistant patients.

The researcher of Paris Brain Institute Marie-Claude Potierwho participated in the study, explained that many of these genes are linked to the immune systemto the regulation of gene activity already neuroplasticityall of them “key factors in the biology of depression.”

“The fact that around 20% of active genes, including many essential to the pathophysiology of depression, behave differently suggests that Treatment-resistant depression has its own biology“he said.

The reduced immune response observed in patients on standard antidepressants suggests that this may be the why these treatments “often” fail in these people.

The study presents the first results of the Prompt consortium —financed by the European program ERA PerMed— which aims to build machine learning models to predict which patients are at risk of developing treatment-resistant depression.