The Association of Biochemical and Genetic Biomarkers in VEGF Pathway with Depression

• Published in: Pharmaceutics Vol. 14; no. 12; p. 2757
• Main Authors: Nunes, Fernanda Daniela Dornelas, Ferezin, Letícia Perticarrara, Pereira, Sherliane Carla, Figaro-Drumond, Fernanda Viana, Pinheiro, Lucas Cézar, Menezes, Itiana Castro, Baes, Cristiane von Werne, Coeli-Lacchini, Fernanda Borchers, Tanus-Santos, José Eduardo, Juruena, Mário Francisco, Lacchini, Riccardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.12.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Antidepressants; Biomarkers; Cytokines; depression; Depression, Mental; Genetic aspects; Genetic polymorphisms; Health aspects; Health care; KDR; Kinases; Medical prognosis; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Neurogenesis; Patients; Permeability; polymorphism; Proteins; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Risk factors; s-FLT; suicidal behavior; Suicides & suicide attempts; Vascular endothelial growth factor; VEGF; Brazil; United States > US; KDR; polymorphism; depression; VEGF; s-FLT; suicidal behavior
• ISSN: 1999-4923; 1999-4923
• DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14122757

VEGF is an important neurotrophic and vascular factor involved in mental disorders. The objective of this study was to verify the effect of genetic polymorphisms in the VEGF pathway on the risk for depression, symptom intensity, and suicide attempts. To examine the association between the VEGF pathway and depression, we genotyped polymorphisms and measured the plasma concentrations of VEGF, KDR, and FLT1 proteins. The participants were 160 patients with depression and 114 healthy controls. The questionnaires that assessed the clinical profile of the patients were the MINI-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, GRID-HAMD , CTQ, BSI, and the number of suicide attempts. Genotyping of participants was performed using the real-time PCR and protein measurements were performed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). VEGF and its inhibitors were reduced in depression. Individuals with depression and displaying the homozygous AA of the rs699947 polymorphism had higher plasma concentrations of VEGF ( -value = 0.006) and were associated with a greater number of suicide attempts ( -value = 0.041). Individuals with depression that were homozygous for the G allele of the FLT1 polymorphism rs7993418 were associated with lower symptom severity ( -value = 0.040). Our results suggest that VEGF pathway polymorphisms are associated with the number of suicide attempts and the severity of depressive symptoms.