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Publications

Journal Article Review Ppublish 1 citation

PubMed: 39258367 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202300246

The researcher's guide to selecting biomarkers in mental health studies.

Bioessays 46(10):e2300246

Authors: Josine E Verhoeven, Owen M Wolkowitz, Isaac Barr Satz, Quinn Conklin, Femke Lamers, Catharina Lavebratt, Jue Lin, Daniel Lindqvist, Stefanie E Mayer, Philippe A Melas, Yuri Milaneschi, Martin Picard, Ryan Rampersaud, Natalie Rasgon, Kathryn Ridout, Gustav Söderberg Veibäck, Caroline Trumpff, Audrey R Tyrka, Kathleen Watson, Gwyneth Winnie Y Wu, Ruoting Yang, Anthony S Zannas, Laura K M Han, Kristoffer N T Månsson

Affiliations

  • Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Amsterdam Public Health, Mental Health program, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
  • Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, California, USA.
  • Center for Health and Community, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Center for Molecular Medicine, L8:00, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
  • Unit for Biological and Precision Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
  • Office for Psychiatry and Habilitation, Psychiatry Research Skåne, Region Skåne, Lund, Sweden.
  • Center for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Amsterdam Neuroscience, Complex Trait Genetics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Department of Psychiatry, Division of Behavioral Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA.
  • Department of Neurology, H. Houston Merritt Center, Columbia Translational Neuroscience Initiative, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA.
  • New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA.
  • Robert N Butler Columbia Aging Center, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York, USA.
  • Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, USA.
  • Department of Psychiatry, Kaiser Permanente, Santa Rosa Medical Center, Santa Rosa, California, USA.
  • Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
  • Medical Readiness Systems Biology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.
  • Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
  • Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
  • Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
  • Orygen, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
  • Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Abstract

Clinical mental health researchers may understandably struggle with how to incorporate biological assessments in clinical research. The options are numerous and are described in a vast and complex body of literature. Here we provide guidelines to assist mental health researchers seeking to include biological measures in their studies. Apart from a focus on behavioral outcomes as measured via interviews or questionnaires, we advocate for a focus on biological pathways in clinical trials and epidemiological studies that may help clarify pathophysiology and mechanisms of action, delineate biological subgroups of participants, mediate treatment effects, and inform personalized treatment strategies. With this paper we aim to bridge the gap between clinical and biological mental health research by (1) discussing the clinical relevance, measurement reliability, and feasibility of relevant peripheral biomarkers; (2) addressing five types of biological tissues, namely blood, saliva, urine, stool and hair; and (3) providing information on how to control sources of measurement variability.

MeSH

Research Design, Growth, Molecular Biology, Mental Disorders, Biomarkers, Cell Biology, Research, Therapeutics, Mental Health

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