SynthesisBiological psychiatry2018
Opposite Molecular Signatures of Depression in Men and Women.
Synthesis in Biological psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 162 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
162 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 277 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gene expression signatures of response to fluoxetine treatment: systematic review and meta-analyses.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Postmortem evidence of decreased brain pH in major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Cell type specific transcriptomic differences in depression show similar patterns between males and females but implicate distinct cell types and genes.Nature communications · 2023Pooled it
- Transcriptomic Studies of Antidepressant Action in Rodent Models of Depression: A First Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Differential and spatial expression meta-analysis of genes identified in genome-wide association studies of depression.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Disruptions of p11 (S100A10) and HPA Axis Homeostasis Participate in the Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) Especially in Female Patients.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Trial
- Stable depression subtypes identified using functional connectome normative deviation models and their response to rTMS.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- GATA3 drives chronic stress-induced depressive-like behaviors by reducing hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neuronal activity in male mice.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Transcriptome changes of disinhibited somatostatin neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex mediating male-specific stress resilience.Research square · 2026Article
- Adverse Childhood Experiences, Depression and Subjective Cognitive Decline by Gender: A Moderated Mediation Analysis.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Article
- Convergent Lower Expression of Redox-Linked Stress-Adaptation and Synaptic-Plasticity Genes in Major Depressive Disorder Across Seven Postmortem dlPFC Cohorts.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Integrated Expression and Bioinformatic Analysis of AKT-Associated lncRNAs Suggests UCA1 as a Candidate Biomarker for Bipolar Disorder.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2026Article
- Cortical Transcriptomic Profiling Reveals Cellular and Mitochondrial Adaptive Stress Signatures That Differ Between Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- A shared transcriptional network in the nucleus accumbens supports resilience to chronic stress across sex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Aberrant MicroRNA-124 expression and methylation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of depressed subjects.Journal of psychiatric research · 2026Article
- Environmental enrichment and physical exercise prevent stress-induced social avoidance and blood-brain barrier alterations via Fgf2.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Handgrip strength as an indicator of psychological status in hospitalized intensive care unit patients: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Age-dependent alterations in anterior cingulate excitation-inhibition balance in major depressive disorder revealed by 7-Tesla magnetic resonance spectroscopy.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2026Article
- Single-cell transcriptomics reveals Sox6 positive interneurons enriched in the prefrontal cortex of female mice vulnerable to chronic social stress.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
102 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) affects women approximately twice as often as men. Women are three times as likely to have atypical depression, with hypersomnia and weight gain. This suggests that the molecular mechanisms of MDD may differ by sex.
methodsTo test this hypothesis, we performed a large-scale gene expression meta-analysis across three corticolimbic brain regions: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, and basolateral amygdala (26 men, 24 women with MDD and sex-matched control subjects). Results were further analyzed using a threshold-free approach, Gene Ontology, and cell type-specific analyses. A separate dataset was used for independent validation (13 MDD subjects/sex and 22 control subjects [13 men, 9 women]).
resultsOf the 706 genes differentially expressed in men with MDD and 882 genes differentially expressed in women with MDD, only 21 were changed in the same direction in both sexes. Notably, 52 genes displayed expression changes in opposite directions between men and women with MDD. Similar results were obtained using a threshold-free approach, in which the overall transcriptional profile of MDD was opposite in men and women. Gene Ontology indicated that men with MDD had decreases in synapse-related genes, whereas women with MDD exhibited transcriptional increases in this pathway. Cell type-specific analysis indicated that men with MDD exhibited increases in oligodendrocyte- and microglia-related genes, while women with MDD had decreases in markers of these cell types.
conclusionsThe brain transcriptional profile of MDD differs greatly by sex, with multiple transcriptional changes in opposite directions between men and women with MDD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.