VEGF plasma level variations in duloxetine-treated patients with major depression

Increased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with major depressive disorder: A meta-analysis

“…On the other hand, VEGF may play a compensatory role in the pathophysiology of MDD, as discussed in the previous paragraph. This hypothesis has been partially proven by some studies discussing the correlation of differences in peripheral VEGF levels in MDD patients and the treatment response, either by electroconvulsive therapy (Minelli et al, 2014) or by drugs (Fornaro et al, 2013). In these studies, the patients who responded to treatment had higher baseline peripheral VEGF levels than the non-responders or increased peripheral VEGF levels along with the treatment.…”

“…In one report, the authors found significantly lower VEGF levels in the peripheral blood of MDD patients than in healthy controls (Carvalho et al, 2013). However, other studies have reported no difference between the levels in peripheral blood of MDD patients and healthy controls (Dalby et al, 2013;Dome et al, 2009;Fornaro et al, 2013;Kotan et al, 2012;Ventriglia et al, 2009). These inconsistent findings may be due to many confounding factors, such as different study design, physical illness, age, gender distribution, medical history, length of illness, previous exposure to antidepressants, severity of depression, or sample source (plasma, serum, or whole blood).…”

“…In addition, we re-included one article in the meta-analysis of correlations between VEGF and severity of disease (Isung et al, 2012). The results of the literature search are listed in Table 1 (Berent et al, 2014;Carvalho et al, 2014Carvalho et al, , 2013Clark-Raymond et al, 2014;Dalby et al, 2013;Dome et al, 2009;Elfving et al, 2014;Fornaro et al, 2013;Galecki et al, 2013a;Kahl et al, 2009;Kotan et al, 2012;Lee and Kim, 2012;Lu et al, 2013;Schweiger et al, 2008;Takebayashi et al, 2010;Ventriglia et al, 2009). …”

“…Similarly, during step 3, we subdivided the studies according to the sample source used in the studies into the serum sample subgroup (Berent et al, 2014;Carvalho et al, 2014Carvalho et al, , 2013Elfving et al, 2014;Galecki et al, 2013a;Kahl et al, 2009;Kotan et al, 2012;Schweiger et al, 2008;Ventriglia et al, 2009) and the plasma sample subgroup (ClarkRaymond et al, 2014;Dalby et al, 2013;Dome et al, 2009;Fornaro et al, 2013;Lee and Kim, 2012;Lu et al, 2013;Takebayashi et al, 2010 …”

“…Berent et al, 2014;Carvalho et al, 2014;Clark-Raymond et al, 2014;Fornaro et al, 2013;Kahl et al, 2009;Kotan et al, 2012;Lee and Kim, 2012;Ventriglia et al, 2009) and non-drug free subgroup(Carvalho et al, 2013;Dalby et al, 2013;Dome et al, 2009;Elfving et al, 2014;Galecki et al, 2013a;Lu et al, 2013;Schweiger et al, 2008;Takebayashi et al, 2010)…”