Comparison of Brain and Blood Suicide Signatures: From Mechanisms to Biomarkers
2019 Standard Research Grant
Amount Awarded: $100,000
Focus Areas: , Genetic Studies
Adolfo Sequeira, Ph.D.
University of California Irvine
Grant Information
We learn about the neurobiology and genetics of suicide by studying the brains of people who died by suicide. Gene expression and biomarkers in the brains of those with major depressive disorder (MDD) who died by suicide will be studied alongside biomarkers in blood samples of people with MDD who have engaged in suicidal behavior to identify suicide-specific biomarkers for assessing risk.
Key Findings
- Gene expression, the turning on of specific genes, can be highly informative for understanding biological changes related to suicide. And we don’t know if gene expression in the brain can also be measured by blood samples.
- In brain and blood samples from 45 subjects with Major Depressive Disorder, 14 genetic differences were identified between patients who died by suicide and patients who died by other means.
- Having a suicide biomarker that is measured in a blood sample could help health care professionals identify patients at increased risk for suicide.
Related Publication
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Mamdani, F., Weber, M. D., Bunney, B., Burke, K., Cartagena, P., Walsh, D., Lee, F. S., Barchas, J., Schatzberg, A. F., Myers, R. M., Watson, S. J., Akil, H., Vawter, M. P., Bunney, W. E., & Sequeira, A. (2022). Identification of potential blood biomarkers associated with suicide in major depressive disorder. Translational psychiatry, 12(1), 159. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-01918-w