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Anxiety Blood Test Examining Biomarkers May Help Optimize Individual Treatment
A blood test for anxiety examining specific biomarkers to determine individual anxiety development risk, severity, and optimized therapy options has been developed by a research team from the Indiana School of Medicine. The findings were published in Molecular Psychiatry.
“Overall, this work is a major step forward toward better understanding, diagnosing, and treating anxiety disorders,” wrote Kyle Roseberry, MD, medical resident, and Helen Le-Niculescu, PhD, assistant research professor, Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, and co-authors. “We hope that our trait biomarkers for future risk may be useful in preventive approaches before the full-blown disorder manifests itself (or re-occurs).”
The researchers utilized 3 individual cohorts throughout the course of their study. In the first cohort, they used a longitudinal within-subject design in individuals with psychiatric disorders to identify blood gene expression changes between self-reported low anxiety and high anxiety states. The team then used a Convergent Functional Genomics approach to compile a list of candidate biomarkers. The researchers then utilized a second cohort of psychiatric patients with clinically severe anxiety to validate their top biomarkers. Finally, they tested the candidate biomarkers for clinical utility in a third cohort of psychiatric patients. Ultimately, GAD1, NTRK3, ADRA2A, FZD10, GRK4, and SLC6A4 showed the strongest evidence for indicators of anxiety.
The authors also identified which of the candidate biomarkers were targets of existing drug therapies, including valproate, omega-3 fatty acids, fluoxetine, lithium, sertraline, benzodiazepines, and ketamine, and could be used to match patients to medications best suited to their individual treatment.
“Given the detrimental impact of untreated anxiety, the current lack of objective measures to guide treatment, and the addiction potential of existing benzodiazepines-based anxiety medications, there is an urgent need for more precise and personalized approaches like the one we developed,” the authors wrote in the study abstract.
Dr Niculescu hopes that the blood test can be used to track and respond to individual changes in biomarkers over time and in combination with other blood tests to provide a comprehensive picture of a patient’s mental health and future risks. Her past research has informed the development of blood tests for pain, depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Following the publication of this research, the anxiety blood test is undergoing development led by MindX Sciences for wider use by physicians.
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