title: State-dependent increase in the levels of neurotrophin-3 and neurotrophin-4/5 in patients with bipolar disorder: A meta-analysis.
abstract: Bipolar disorder (BD) is one of the most serious psychiatric disorders in the world, but its pathophysiology is still unclear. Regulation of neurotrophic factors have been thought to play a role in this process. There have been inconsistent findings regarding the differences in blood neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and neurotrophin-4/5 (NT-4/5) between patients with BD and healthy controls (HCs). The aim of the current meta-analysis is to examine the changes in the levels of NT-3 and NT-4/5 in BD patients at different affective states. Eight articles (including 465 BD patients and 353 HCs) were included in the analysis, and their results were pooled by using a random effects model. We found the levels of both NT-3 (p = 0.0046) and NT-4/5 (p = 0.0003) were significantly increased in BD patients, compared to HCs. Through subgroup analysis, this increase persisted only in patients in depressed state (p = 0.0038 for NT-3 and p = 0.0001 for NT-4/5), but not in manic or euthymic state. In addition, we found the differences in NT-3 and NT-4/5 were significantly associated with the duration of illness, but not by the mean age or female proportion. Our results suggest a state-dependent increase in NT-3 and NT-4/5 levels in patients with BD. Further studies are needed to examine dynamic changes of these neurotrophins in BD patients along the disease course.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung, Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ping-Tao
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yen-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung, Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Kun-Yu
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung, Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-Yu
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung, Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Weilun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital, Kaohsiung, Jen-Ai's Home, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Kuan
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shih-Pin
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hung-Chang
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Institute for Translational Research in Biomedicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Electronic address: py1029@adm.cgmh.org.tw.
authors.forename: Pao-Yen
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000097:blood*; D020933:Neurotrophin 3
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C000595808:NTF3 protein, human; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D020933:Neurotrophin 3; C071951:neurotrophin 5; C073922:neurotrophin 4
keywords: Bipolar disorder; Mood status; NT-3; NT-4/5; Neurotrophin; Psychiatry