Seyed Alireza Seyed Ebrahimi
1 , Zahra Sadat Goli
2*, Leila Sadat Mirseify
3, Mohammad Reza Seirafi
21 Department of General Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Badrud, Iran.
2 Islamic Azad University, Kish Branch, Iran.
3 Department of Psychology, Azad University, Kashan Branch, Isfahan, Iran.
Abstract
Several mental conditions and depression, have been linked to immune response disorganization. However, it is unclear if particular immune mediators play a part in the etiopathogenesis of depression. Although there are no definite biomarkers to diagnose depression, the current study sought to logically evaluate the possibility and feasibility of checking a biomarker for depression to be utilized for hospitalized patients suspected of depression. In this narrative review, related articles were gathered through a search of PubMed, Scopus, and ScienceDirect databases as well as a manual search of full-text paper references. The reviewed studies demonstrated the potential role of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) in depressive disorders. Previous studies represented a negative role for TGF-β in depression pathophysiology and an increase in TGF-β after depression treatment. Elevated plasma TGF-alpha acted controversial to TGF-β. The level of TGF-β in maternal plasma increased getting close to delivery, and researchers found that it might be associated with postpartum depression. In addition, researchers reported extreme elevations in TGF-β levels in the brain cells of subjects who died by suicide. Although the results of this study revealed a plausible link between TGF-β and depression based on the literature, sensitivity and specificity studies needed before TGF-β as a biomarker may be extensively employed in clinical practice. Depression appears to be down-regulating TGF-β and its signaling or the underlying mechanisms of the pathogenesis of consequent neurological disorders, while further studies are required for the application of the TGF-β assessment in clinical practice.