Fibroblast growth factors in depression

Abstract

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most serious diseases and now becomes a major public health problem in the world. The pathogenesis of depression remains poorly understood. Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) belong to a large family of growth factors that are involved in brain development during early periods as well as maintenance and repair throughout adulthood. In recent years, studies have found a correlation between the members of the FGF system and depression. These signaling molecules may be expected to be biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of MDD, and may provide new drug targets for the treatment of depression. Here, we reviewed the correlation between some members of the FGF system and depression. Major depressive disorder (MDD), a common chronic mental disorder, is mainly manifested by changes in emotion, cognition, behavior, sleep and appetite, and it can result in impaired overall social function. MDD is among the leading causes of suicide and disability. The prevalence of MDD is high, with nearly one in four women or six men suffering from MDD (Kessler et al., 2010). In addition, relapse is common in MDD. Approximately 60% of first-onset depressed patients will suffer from a second episode (Monroe and Harkness, 2011). In sharp contrast to high prevalence rate, the recognition rate of MDD is quite low. Among the existing MDD patients in China, only a few have received relevant treatment, and a majority of patients can't be diagnosed and treated effectively and timely. The pathogenesis of MDD is very complex, and it has not been uniformly determined. Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) belong to a large family of growth factors that are involved in brain development during early periods as well as maintenance and repair throughout adulthood (Terwisscha van Scheltinga et al., 2013). Many studies show that some members of FGF system are correlated with depression. We used “fibroblast growth factor” or “FGF” and mood related words (e.g., “major depressive disorder,” “depression,” “mood disorder,” or “stress”) to perform electronic searches of the English-language literatures in PubMed. References of the retrieved articles were manually screened to identify other relevant publications. Here, we mainly concentrated on the reported depression-related FGF system members, including FGFR1, FGF2, FGF9, FGF21, and FGF22.