Association of brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and depressive symptoms in young adults with acne vulgaris

Abstract

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of the proteins that contributes to the survival, growth, maintenance of neurons, and plays important roles in the pathophysiology of depression. It has been reported that depression is closely associated with the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris disease. But, there is no report of serum BDNF levels in patients with acne vulgaris. The study aimed to determine the potential association between BDNF and depressive symptoms in young adults with acne vulgaris. Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional study, the serum BDNF levels were measured in peripheral blood samples of 20 consecutive acne vulgaris patients with depression and 98 consecutive acne vulgaris patients without depression and also compared it with a 59 healthy control group by using a ELISA. The potential correlation between the BDNF levels, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and depressive symptoms such as nine-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Athens insomnia scale (AIS) were evaluated with multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Our results showed that levels of BDNF expression were lower in consecutive acne vulgaris patients when compared with healthy control (P < 0.05). There was a negative correlation between levels of BDNF and the PHQ-9 scores (r = − 0.486, P < 0.001). Furthermore, acne vulgaris patients with depression showed lower serum BDNF levels (10.96 ± 2.12 ng/ml) compared with acne vulgaris patients without depression (13.85 ± 2.47 ng/ml), as well as with healthy control (14.35 ± 2.70 ng/mg; both P < 0.05). No difference was found in serum BDNF levels between healthy control and acne vulgaris patients without depressive symptoms (z = 0.964, P > 0.05). Similarly, the overall area under the curve of receiver operating characteristic was 0.82, indicating the highly conserving of serum BDNF levels as an biomarker for screening of depression in young adults with acne vulgaris (72% sensitivity and 85% specificity). Conclusion: Serum BDNF levels were decreased and negatively associated with depressive symptoms in young Chinese adults with acne vulgaris.

Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor is elevated in the blood serum of Crohn's disease patients, but is not influenced by anti‐TNF‐α treatment—A pilot study

“…For example, Xue et al 37 showed that 24‐hour sleep deprivation before surgery increased pain sensitivity and was associated with higher BDNF levels. The depression severity did not correlate with BDNF, which is incompatible with previous studies 38,39 . Perhaps, aforementioned chronic inflammation changed this relation; nevertheless, in patients with psoriasis, this association was demonstrated 39,40 .…”

“…The depression severity did not correlate with BDNF, which is incompatible with previous studies. 38,39 Perhaps, aforementioned chronic inflammation changed this relation; nevertheless, in patients with psoriasis, this association was demonstrated. 39,40 The results obtained can also be influenced by the questionnaires used to assess depression.…”

Multidimensional Analysis of Major Depression: Association Between BDNF Methylation, Psychosocial and Cognitive Domains

“…In this study, we evaluated the methylation level at specific CpG sites in BDNF promoter IV. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a neurotrophin that has been widely associated with major depressive disorder since abnormalities in its expression produce dysfunction in circuits that compromise emotional and cognitive functions ( 24 , 62 , 63 ). Our association results for the CpG3 site in BDNF promoter IV suggest that individuals with elevated methylation levels are less likely to show a depressive phenotype.…”

Depression, isotretinoin, and folic acid: A practical review

“…There were significantly lower BDNF levels in patients than in controls with statistically significant negative correlations between serum levels of BDNF and perceived stress scale scores, according to Mikhael, Hamed, Mansour, and Abdelrahman (2019). In their study, He et al (2019) observed that serum BDNF levels were markedly decreased in patients with depression compared with patients without depression and healthy cases. The optimal cutoff value of serum BDNF levels as an indicator for screening of depression was estimated to be 12.28 ng/ml, which yielded a sensitivity of 72%, specificity of 85%, a true-positive rate of 72%, and a false-positive rate of 15% in young Chinese acne vulgaris patients.…”