ArticleBMC psychiatry2026
Treatment effects on sphingosine-1-phosphate and its receptors in major depressive disorder: implications for biomarkers.
Article in BMC 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.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) currently relies on subjective clinical assessments, highlighting a critical need for objective biological markers. The sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) signaling pathway, a pivotal regulator of neuro-immune interactions, has emerged as a potential contributor to MDD pathophysiology, yet its role remains incompletely understood. This study aimed to investigate plasma levels of S1P and its key receptors, S1PR1 and S1PR3, as potential diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for MDD, with a specific focus on sex differences and treatment effects.
methodsPatients with MDD (n = 56) underwent an 8-week treatment protocol were enrolled, alongside 42 healthy controls (HCs). Depression severity was evaluated using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-24) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) at baseline and 8-week visit. The plasma levels of S1P, S1PR1 and S1PR3 were measured at baseline and week 8.
resultsAt baseline, plasma concentrations of S1P, S1PR1, and S1PR3 were significantly elevated in patients with MDD compared to HCs. All three markers significantly decreased and trended toward normal levels after 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment. Notably, a significant sex-specific difference was observed for the receptors, baseline elevations of S1PR1 and S1PR3 were more obvious in female patients than in male patients. Furthermore, baseline S1P levels significantly predicted symptom improvement-as measured by changes in both HAMD-24 and PHQ-9 scores-whereas baseline S1PR levels alone did not. In addition, a combined panel of S1P, S1PR1, and S1PR3 yielded high diagnostic accuracy, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.9575.
conclusionOur data demonstrate a significant, sex-dependent dysregulation of the peripheral S1P signaling pathway in MDD, which is responsive to antidepressant treatment. The ability of baseline S1P to predict clinical outcomes and the encouraging diagnostic precision of the S1P-S1PR1-S1PR3 panel strongly support their potential as clinically applicable biomarkers. These results imply that the S1P pathway plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of depression, offering new possibilities for diagnosis and personalized treatment strategies in psychiatry.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
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 Socratic graph.