Baseline Serum Levels of Beclin-1, but Not Inflammatory Factors, May Predict Antidepressant Treatment Response in Chinese Han Patients With MDD: A Preliminary Study

Currently, the choice of medical treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) is primarily based on a trial-and-error process. Thus, identification of individual factors capable of predicting treatment response is of great clinical relevance. Recent work points towards beclin-1 and inflammatory factors as potential biomarkers of antidepressant treatment response. The primary aim of the study was to investigate whether pre-treatment serum levels of beclin-1 and inflammatory factors could predict antidepressant treatment response in Chinese Han patients with MDD. Forty patients with MDD were treated with either a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) (paroxetine in 20 cases) or a serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) (duloxetine in 13 cases and venlafaxine in 7 cases). Depression scores and serum levels of beclin-1 were measured at the baseline and after 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-1B, and IL-6 levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits at the baseline. Twenty-seven patients were identified as treatment responders, whereas 13 were identified as non-responders after 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment. Baseline serum beclin-1 levels were significantly higher in non-responders than in responders (p = 0.001), whereas no differences were found in baseline serum CRP, IL-1B, or IL-6 levels between responders and non-responders. There were no significant correlations between baseline levels of beclin-1 and baseline IL-1β, IL-6, and CRP levels—neither in the total sample nor in responder and non-responder groups. Moreover, logistic regression models and a random forest model showed that baseline serum beclin-1, but not inflammatory factors, was an independent and the most important predictor for antidepressant treatment response. Furthermore, serum beclin-1 levels were significantly increased in responders (p = 0.027) but not in non-responders after 8 weeks of treatment (p = 0.221). Baseline serum beclin-1 levels may be a predictive biomarker of antidepressant response in patients with MDD. Moreover, beclin-1 may be involved in the therapeutic effect of antidepressant drugs.