title: Serum Levels of Growth Factors in Alcohol-dependent Patients according to Comorbid Depressive Symptoms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aims to reveal the relationship of depression with growth factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in inpatients diagnosed with alcohol dependence, and to identify candidate growth factors as biological markers to indicate the comorbid of alcohol dependence and depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study examined demographic factors in 45 alcohol-dependent patients. The ADS (Korean version of the Alcohol Dependence Scale) and BDI (Korean version of Beck's Depression Inventory) were used. BDNF, NGF, and IGF-1 were measured through ELISA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average drinking quantity and the ADS score were significantly more severe in alcohol-dependent patients with depression than in those without depression. Linearly comparing BDNF, NGF, and IGF-1 with BDI values, IGF-1 was the growth factor significantly correlated with BDI scores. BDI scores were significantly correlated with ADS scores. IGF-1 was significantly higher in alcohol-dependent patients with depression. Alcohol-dependent patients with depression had greater alcohol use and more severe ADS scores. BDNF and NGF showed no significant difference between alcohol-dependent patients with and without depression, but IGF-1 was significantly higher in those with than in those without depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IGF-1 was found to be associated with depression in alcohol-dependent patients, suggesting that IGF-1 in alcohol- dependent patients could be an important biomarker to indicate whether alcohol-dependence is accompanied by depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan, Korea.
authors.forename: Changwoo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hanyang University College of Medicine and Institute of Mental Health, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Donghyun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keyo Hospital, Uiwang, Korea.
authors.forename: Woong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hahm
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hanyang University College of Medicine and Institute of Mental Health, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Junghyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hanyang University College of Medicine and Institute of Mental Health, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yongchon
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Seulgi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dai-Jin
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Alcohol dependence; Depression; Growth factor; Insulin-like growth factor-1