Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42487745›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2026

Second-order morphometric similarity networks predict response to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in major depressive disorder: a two-center study.

Chunchen Liu, Yu Xiong, Tianjiao Xu, Jifei Sun, Yue Ma, Jun Liu, Weihui Li, Yaxuan Xu, Meng Zhao, Jiudong Cao and 8 more

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors.

Chunchen Liu *College of Medical Information and Artificial Intelligence, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Yu Xiong *School of Clinical Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Tianjiao Xu *Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jifei Sun *Shunyi Hospital, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
Yue Ma *Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, China.
Jun LiuNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
Weihui LiNational Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, China.
Yaxuan XuSchool of Ophthalmology, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Meng ZhaoCollege of Medical Information and Artificial Intelligence, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Jiudong CaoGuang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yukang ZhangCollege of Medical Information and Artificial Intelligence, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Lei ZhangGuang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jiazheng LiGuang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xiaoling WangGuang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Xin WangInstitute of Medical Genomics, Biomedical Sciences College and Shandong Medicinal Biotechnology Centre, First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Kai SunCollege of Medical Information and Artificial Intelligence, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Changbin YuCollege of Medical Information and Artificial Intelligence, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, China.
Jiliang FangGuang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a promising neuromodulation therapy for major depressive disorder (MDD), but reliable predictors of treatment response are lacking. Second-order morphometric similarity networks (MSN-II), which capture higher-order structural covariance patterns, may provide novel predictive biomarkers. Methods: A total of 122 antidepressant-free MDD patients from two centers (Site A, n = 92; Site B, n = 30) underwent structural MRI before and after 8 weeks of taVNS. Baseline MSN-II nodal strength within 26 limbic regions was extracted from T1-weighted images. A LASSO logistic regression model was trained in Site A and externally validated in Site B. Treatment response was defined as ≥60% HAMD-17 reduction. Results: MSN-II showed significant training performance (AUC = 0.792 ± 0.158; permutation P < 0.001) and generalized to external validation (AUC = 0.856, 95% CI: 0.693-0.978). MSN-I showed comparable performance (external AUC = 0.804). MSN-II also showed higher external validation performance than ReHo, ALFF, subcortical volumes, and baseline HAMD-17. The left orbitofrontal cortex area 13 (L_OFC_A13; β = -0.649) was the strongest predictor among four retained features. Non-responders showed higher baseline MSN-II in L_OFC_A13 (P = 0.021) and significant post-treatment decreases (P < 0.001), whereas responders remained stable (Time × Group interaction, P = 0.005). Discussion: MSN-II features from limbic regions provide promising cross-site prediction of taVNS response in MDD, with L_OFC_A13 emerging as a key biomarker. These findings support the potential of MSN-based approaches for individualized neuromodulation treatment planning.

Indexed as

major depressive disordermorphometric similarity networkorbitofrontal cortextranscutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulationtreatment response prediction

Identifiers

PMID42487745
PMCPMC13388863

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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.