ArticlePloS one2019
Accuracy of brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels for differentiating between Taiwanese patients with major depressive disorder or schizophrenia and healthy controls.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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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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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Clinical Utility of Biomarkers in Diagnosing Major Depressive Disorder in Adults: A Systematic Review of Literature From 2013 to 2023.Psychiatry investigation · 2025Article
- Neuroendocrine characterization into schizophrenia: norepinephrine and melatonin as promising biomarkers.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
- Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and C-reactive protein (CRP) biomarkers in suicide attempter and non-attempter major depression disorder (MDD) patients.Annals of general psychiatry · 2024Article
- Interactions Among Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Neuroimmune Pathways Are Key Components of the Major Psychiatric Disorders.Molecular neurobiology · 2022Review
- Intranasal Administration of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Rescues Depressive-Like Phenotypes in Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress Mice.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2022Article
- Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and mental disorders.Biomedical journal · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesBrain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been associated with the psychopathology of both major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SZ). However, studies focusing on the accuracy of BDNF levels to differentiate between these patients and healthy controls (HCs) have been rare.
methodsOver a discrete ten-year period, we investigated serum BDNF levels in patients with MDD or SZ and compared them to HCs.
resultsWe found serum BDNF levels in 224 samples with SZ to be lower than those in 390 HCs samples (p = 0.007), but not lower than those in the 273 samples with MDD. Male MDD patients tended to have lower BDNF levels compared to male HCs (p = 0.083). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that BDNF levels were moderately accurate in differentiating male MDD patients and female patients with SZ from HCs (AUC = 0.652 and 0.623, respectively). The most adequate cut-off points for BDNF level were 5.11 ng/ml (sensitivity = 81.1%, specificity = 48.5%) and 5.88 ng/ml (sensitivity = 74.1%, specificity = 57.4%), respectively.
conclusionsOur results support that BDNF demonstrated moderate accuracy in distinguishing male patients with MDD and female patients with SZ from HCs. In the future, greater samples would be required to further confirm these results.
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