ReviewFrontiers in psychiatry2019
Is the HPA Axis as Target for Depression Outdated, or Is There a New Hope?
Review in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 114 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
114 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 239 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Potential Inflammatory Biomarkers for Major Depressive Disorder Related to Suicidal Behaviors: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Investigational Drugs for the Treatment of Depression (Part 2): Glutamatergic, Cholinergic, Sestrin Modulators, and Other Agents.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- Tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase may be a potential prognostic biomarker and immunotherapy target in cancer: A meta-analysis and bioinformatics analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Pooled it
- Investigating the relationship between hippocampus/dentate gyrus volume and hypothalamus metabolism in participants with major depressive disorder.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Effects of left anodal transcranial direct current stimulation on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in depression: a randomized controlled pilot trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Effects of an immersive psychosocial training program on depression and well-being: A randomized clinical trial.Journal of psychiatric research · 2022Trial
- Relationship of immune-inflammatory pathway and stress-induced depression with neural regeneration.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Psychological Distress Profiles in Women With Recurrent Pregnancy Loss During Subsequent Early Pregnancy and Their Association With Sleep Characteristics: A Latent Profile Analysis.Journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- Association between childhood trauma and 26-week prognosis in adolescents with major depressive disorder: a cohort study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Neuroinflammatory Mechanisms in Depression: From Biomarkers to Anti-Inflammatory Therapy.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Non-Communicable Disease, Metabolic and Lifestyle Risk Factor Profiles in South African University Students: A Latent Class Analysis.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Research Progress on the Biological Function and Homeostatic Disruption of Microglia in the Pathogenesis of Major Depressive Disorder.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Correlation between clinical features of acute episode of major depressive disorder and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) function: a cross-sectional study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Brain-gut communication and potential applications of microecological treatments in stroke.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Gingerol-Enriched Ginger Extract Effects on Anxiety-like Behavior in a Neuropathic Pain Model via Colonic Microbiome-Neuroimmune Modulation.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Review
- St. John's Wort for Depression: From Neurotransmitters to Membrane Plasticity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Relationship Between Short Video Addiction Tendency and Depression Among Rural Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Novel Insights into Dietary Bioactive Compounds and Major Depressive Disorders: Evidence from Animal Studies and Future Perspectives.The Journal of nutrition · 2025Review
54 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a very common stress-related mental disorder that carries a huge burden for affected patients and the society. It is associated with a high mortality that derives from suicidality and the development of serious medical conditions such as heart diseases, diabetes, and stroke. Although a range of effective antidepressants are available, more than 50% of the patients do not respond to the first treatment they are prescribed and around 30% fail to respond even after several treatment attempts. The heterogeneous condition of MDD, the lack of biomarkers matching patients with the right treatments and the situation that almost all available drugs are only targeting the serotonin, norepinephrine, or dopamine signaling, without regulating other potentially dysregulated systems may explain the insufficient treatment status. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is one of these other systems, there is numerous and robust evidence that it is implicated in MDD and other stress-related conditions, but up to date there is no specific drug targeting HPA axis components that is approved and no test that is routinely used in the clinical setting identifying patients for such a specific treatment. Is there still hope after these many years for a breakthrough of agents targeting the HPA axis? This review will cover tests detecting altered HPA axis function and the specific treatment options such as glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonists, corticotropin-releasing hormone 1 (CRH
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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.