Irisin, adropin, and preptin as biomarkers of energy dysregulation in depressive disorder

Objective: Lack of energy, fatigue, debility are often seen in depression and hardly respond to treatment. Finding some biomarkers for these symptoms may be important for diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to investigate the possible relationship between depression and energy-related molecules irisin, adropin and preptin. Methods: There were 117 patients with depression and 59 healthy volunteers included in the study. Sociodemographic characteristics and clinical features of groups were evaluated, and depressed patients were divided into subtypes, then irisin, adropin, preptin levels were compared between depressive patients and healthy controls and between subtypes. Depression severity, quality of life, functionality and the relations with irisin, adropin and preptin levels and associations between depression subtypes were evaluated. Results: Irisin, adropin, and preptin levels were lower in depression, positively correlated with quality of life, and negatively correlated with depression severity and functional impairment. Depression subtypes showed no difference in irisin, adropin and preptin levels. Conclusions: We found decreased serum irisin, adropin and preptin levels in depression. Our results may support investigation of irisin, adropin and preptin as biomarkers for depression but it might be more meaningful to evaluate these biomarkers in a long-term follow-up.