Clinical and neurobiological predictors of response to ketamine as a basis for personalized depression therapy (NV18-04-00260)

Basic informations

Investigator: prof. MUDr. Jiří Horáček, Ph.D. FCMA
Main recipient: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Research period: 1/5/2018 - 31/12/2022
Total budget: 10,078,000 CZK
Supported by: Czech Health Research Council (AZV ČR)

Annotation

Depression is a debilitating disease with high lifetime prevalence. Despite the variety of available treatment options, three major problems remain unsolved: 1) the time lag before the onset of the effect of antidepressants, 2) the treatment resistance with 20% of patients not reaching remission after 2 years of multiple treatments, 3) the absence of personalized treatment guidelines. The discovery of rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine led to a paradigm shift in understanding depression pathogenesis and treatment. Nevertheless, studies show that up to 30-40% patients do not respond to ketamine and their difference from responders has not been established yet. The aim of the project is research on prediction of antidepressant effect of ketamine based on the intersection of its neuroplasticity potential, immunomodulation and clinical mechanisms of action. These clinical clues could determine the groups of patients to most likely benefit from the intervention and therefore bridge the time lag before the onset of antidepressant effect with consequent reduction of suicidality risk.