title: Circulating microRNA-144-5p is associated with depressive disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depressive/anxiety disorders are the most common types of mental illnesses in the world. The present study was the first to explore the association between plasma microRNAs (miRNAs) and depression/anxiety in primary care patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 169 patients (aged 20-64 years) from 16 primary health centers were enrolled in the present study. The healthy controls were consisted of 52 individuals. We first performed miRNA screening of plasma samples from 11 patients using a Serum/Plasma Focus microRNA Panel comprising 179 miRNA primer sets. Six miRNAs were differentially expressed and were then validated by quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR in the entire study cohort. The mean plasma miR-144-5p level in the depression/anxiety patients increased significantly compared to baseline (p < 0.0001) after the 8-week follow-up. No significant associations were found between the differentially expressed miRNAs and a change in the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS-S) score after the follow-up. In linear regression analysis, the plasma miR-144-5p expression level was inversely related to the depression score (MADRS-S) (β = -0.02, p < 0.01), after adjustment for sex and age, at baseline. In addition, plasma miR-144-5p levels at baseline in the depression/anxiety patients were significantly lower compared with the healthy controls (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings show that plasma miR-144-5p levels are associated with depressive symptoms. Although confirmatory analyses are required, plasma miRNA-144-5p is a potential peripheral biomarker for pathologic processes related to depression.
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Malmö, Sweden ; Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA USA.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundquist
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hedelius
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Karolina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Palmér
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Malmö, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ashfaque A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Memon
authors.affiliation: Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Malmö, Sweden ; Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA USA.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sundquist
keywords: Depression; Severity; miR-144-5p