BIOmarkers in DEPression (BIODEP)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Peripheral immunomarker validation in treatment-resistant depression
IRAS ID
169230
Contact name
Edward T. Bullmore
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
CPFT and University of Cambridge (joint sponsorship)
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
This is a study to characterise the role of inflammatory processes in depression. There is compelling evidence that inflammation is often associated with, and can cause, depression. It is currently less clear that anti-inflammatory drugs have meaningful anti-depressant effect. One of our goals is to identify the subset of depressed patients that is most likely to respond better to an anti-inflammatory drug than to a conventional anti-depressant. We will therefore undertake a study of patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder including four groups: i) incompletely responsive patients who have demonstrated failure to respond consistently or completely to standard treatment, ii) those who have responded well to treatment and are not currently depressed, iii) untreated patients who are currently depressed, iv) healthy volunteers with no history of depression. Participants will undergo a clinical assessment, an interview with a trained member of the research team and will complete self-rated questionnaires. We will collect blood and saliva samples to measure certain immune markers. We will also perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to look for MRI markers in the brain and investigate brain inflammation in a sub-sample of these patients using positron emission topography (PET) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling (also called lumbar puncture).
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0092
Date of REC Opinion
17 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion