Identifying melancholic depression biomarker using whole-brain functional connectivity

Naho Ichikawa; Giuseppe Lisi; Noriaki Yahata; Go Okada; Masahiro Takamura; Makiko Yamada; Tetsuya Suhara; Ryu-ichiro Hashimoto; Takashi Yamada; Yujiro Yoshihara; Hidehiko Takahashi; Kiyoto Kasai; Nobumasa Kato; Shigeto Yamawaki; Mitsuo Kawato; Jun Morimoto; Yasumasa Okamoto

arXiv · 1704.01039

Identifying melancholic depression biomarker using whole-brain functional connectivity

Naho Ichikawa·Giuseppe Lisi·Noriaki Yahata·Go Okada·Masahiro Takamura·Makiko Yamada·Tetsuya Suhara·Ryu-ichiro Hashimoto·Takashi Yamada·Yujiro Yoshihara·Hidehiko Takahashi·Kiyoto Kasai·Nobumasa Kato·Shigeto Yamawaki·Mitsuo Kawato·Jun Morimoto·Yasumasa Okamoto

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Abstract

By focusing on melancholic features with biological homogeneity, this study aimed to identify a small number of critical functional connections (FCs) that were specific only to the melancholic type of MDD. On the resting-state fMRI data, classifiers were developed to differentiate MDD patients from healthy controls (HCs). The classification accuracy was improved from 50 % (93 MDD and 93 HCs) to 70% (66 melancholic MDD and 66 HCs), when we specifically focused on the melancholic MDD with moderate or severer level of depressive symptoms. It showed 65% accuracy for the independent validation cohort. The biomarker score distribution showed improvements with escitalopram treatments, and also showed significant correlations with depression symptom scores. This classifier was specific to melancholic MDD, and it did not generalize in other mental disorders including autism spectrum disorder (ASD, 54% accuracy) and schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD, 45% accuracy). Among the identified 12 FCs from 9,316 FCs between whole brain anatomical node pairs, the left DLPFC / IFG region, which has most commonly been targeted for depression treatments, and its functional connections between Precuneus / PCC, and between right DLPFC / SMA areas had the highest contributions. Given the heterogeneity of the MDD, focusing on the melancholic features is the key to achieve high classification accuracy. The identified FCs specifically predicted the melancholic MDD and associated with subjective depressive symptoms. These results suggested key FCs of melancholic depression, and open doors to novel treatments targeting these regions in the future.

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Naho Ichikawa, Giuseppe Lisi, Noriaki Yahata, Go Okada, Masahiro Takamura, Makiko Yamada, Tetsuya Suhara, Ryu-ichiro Hashimoto, Takashi Yamada, Yujiro Yoshihara, Hidehiko Takahashi, Kiyoto Kasai, Nobumasa Kato, Shigeto Yamawaki, Mitsuo Kawato, Jun Morimoto, Yasumasa Okamoto. 2017-04-03. Identifying melancholic depression biomarker using whole-brain functional connectivity. https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.01039

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