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Because high percentages of patients with major depression fail to respond to antidepressant medications, biomarkers for treatment responsiveness versus resistance would be clinically useful. This international research group conducted a series of human and animal studies of one possible biomarker.
In 237 depressed patients receiving duloxetine or placebo, the researchers found reliable increases in peripheral blood levels of microRNA (mRNA) of the G protein–coupled receptor 56 (GPR56; also known as ADGRG1) in patients responding to duloxetine but not in treatment-resistant or placebo-treated patients. These findings were replicated in a study of 63 patients treated with citalopram and in a naturalistic study in which 64 patients received va…