In Search for Biomarkers, Endophenotypes or Biosignatures of PTSD: What Have We Learned from the South East European Study

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex mental disorder whose neurobiology, including epi/genetics, is still elusive. The South East European (SEE)-PTSD study has conducted an impressive amount of research on molecular mechanisms of PTSD. The results of the study make obvious the need of coordinated pluralism and transdisciplinary integrative approach in research on molecular mechanisms of PTSD and other stress-related disorders. The development of PTSD is influenced by a tangled and complicated interaction of inborn or acquired predisposition or vulnerability and environmental adversity which alters gene regulation producing effects on neurons and brain systems and inducing changes in cognition, emotion and behavior. There are still no identified objective biomarkers or tests which could confirm the trauma exposure or identify the real presence of PTSD. The puzzle how brain function enables the resilience to adversity and how brain dysfunctions lead to vulnerability to stress and development of PTSD and other stress-related disorders is still awaiting reliable explanation. Discovery of PTSD associated epi/genetic factors might provide reliable markers for pathogenesis, what could result in getting novel therapeutics and/or objective stratifying patients for research.