The Serum Proteome After ECT: New Study From Sweden

Out on PubMed, from researchers in Sweden, is this study:

Alterations in the Serum Proteome Following Electroconvulsive Therapy for a Major Depressive Episode: A Longitudinal Multicenter Study.

Göteson A, Clements CC, Juréus A, Joas E, Holmén Larsson J, Karlsson R, Nordenskjöld A, Pålsson E, Landén M.Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci. 2022 Dec 12;3(4):884-892. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.11.005. eCollection 2023 Oct.PMID: 37881534


The abstract is copied below:

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment for severe depression, but the biological changes induced by ECT remain poorly understood.

Methods: This study investigated alterations in blood serum proteins in 309 patients receiving ECT for a major depressive episode. We analyzed 201 proteins in samples collected at 3 time points (T): just before the first ECT treatment session (T0), within 30 minutes after the first ECT session (T1), and just before the sixth ECT session (T2).

Results: Using statistical models to account for repeated sampling, we identified 152 and 70 significantly (<5% false discovery rate) altered proteins at T1 and T2, respectively. The most pronounced alterations at T1 were transiently increased levels of prolactin, myoglobin, and kallikrein-6. However, most proteins had decreased levels at T1, with the largest effects observed for pro-epidermal growth factor, proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Src, tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily member 14, sulfotransferase 1A1, early activation antigen CD69, and CD40 ligand. The change of several acutely altered proteins correlated with electric current and pulse frequency in a dose-response-like manner. Over a 5-session course of ECT, some acutely altered levels were sustained while others increased, e.g., serine protease 8 and chitinase-3-like protein 1. None of the studied protein biomarkers were associated with clinical response to ECT.

Conclusions: We report experimental data on alterations in the circulating proteome triggered by ECT in a clinical setting. The findings implicate hormonal signaling, immune response, apoptotic processes, and more. None of the findings were associated with clinical response to ECT.

Keywords: Biomarker; Depression; ECT; Longitudinal; Major depressive episode; Proteomics.

The paper is here.
And from the text:


This is a fascinating study with complex and tantalizing findings. Of course, it is preliminary and a "fishing expedition," but an important and necessary beginning. It points to future directions, but also has a reassuring link to the past, in the replication of the prolactin findings. And Figure 1 is among the most lovely and elaborate you will ever see...
Kudos to our Swedish ECT researcher colleagues for their continued successful mining of their national ECT database.

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