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Correspondence|Articles in Press

Ketamine-Associated Change in Anhedonia and mTOR Expression in Treatment-Resistant Depression

      Anhedonia is a core symptom of major depression increasingly recognized as a main driver of illlness morbidity and treatment resistance (
      • Winer E.S.
      • Nadorff M.R.
      • Ellis T.E.
      • Allen J.G.
      • Herrera S.
      • Salem T.
      Anhedonia predicts suicidal ideation in a large psychiatric inpatient sample.
      ). Immune dysfunction and insulin signaling dysregulation are causally associated with anhedonia and mediate metabolic homeostasis and neurotrophic and synaptic plasticity (
      • Nguyen T.T.L.
      • Chan L.C.
      • Borreginne K.
      • Kale R.P.
      • Hu C.
      • Tye S.J.
      A review of brain insulin signaling in mood disorders: From biomarker to clinical target.
      ,
      • Thomson A.W.
      • Turnquist H.R.
      • Raimondi G.
      Immunoregulatory functions of mTOR inhibition.
      ,
      • Powell J.D.
      • Pollizzi K.N.
      • Heikamp E.B.
      • Horton M.R.
      Regulation of immune responses by mTOR.
      ,
      • Bekhbat M.
      • Li Z.
      • Mehta N.D.
      • Treadway M.T.
      • Lucido M.J.
      • Woolwine B.J.
      • et al.
      Functional connectivity in reward circuitry and symptoms of anhedonia as therapeutic targets in depression with high inflammation: Evidence from a dopamine challenge study [published online ahead of print Aug 4].
      ,
      • Bekhbat M.
      • Treadway M.T.
      • Goldsmith D.R.
      • Woolwine B.J.
      • Haroon E.
      • Miller A.H.
      • et al.
      Gene signatures in peripheral blood immune cells related to insulin resistance and low tyrosine metabolism define a sub-type of depression with high CRP and anhedonia.
      ,
      • Costi S.
      • Morris L.S.
      • Collins A.
      • Fernandez N.F.
      • Patel M.
      • Xie H.
      • et al.
      Peripheral immune cell reactivity and neural response to reward in patients with depression and anhedonia.
      ). The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a key regulator of immune cell responsivity (
      • Powell J.D.
      • Pollizzi K.N.
      • Heikamp E.B.
      • Horton M.R.
      Regulation of immune responses by mTOR.
      ). Preclinical models have shown that ketamine activates neurotrophic signaling downstream of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and insulin to modulate mTOR and enhance structural plasticity (
      • Nguyen T.T.L.
      • Chan L.C.
      • Borreginne K.
      • Kale R.P.
      • Hu C.
      • Tye S.J.
      A review of brain insulin signaling in mood disorders: From biomarker to clinical target.
      ,
      • Li N.
      • Lee B.
      • Liu R.J.
      • Banasr M.
      • Dwyer J.M.
      • Iwata M.
      • et al.
      mTOR-dependent synapse formation underlies the rapid antidepressant effects of NMDA antagonists.
      ,
      • Walker A.J.
      • Foley B.M.
      • Sutor S.L.
      • McGillivray J.A.
      • Frye M.A.
      • Tye S.J.
      Peripheral proinflammatory markers associated with ketamine response in a preclinical model of antidepressant-resistance.
      ,
      • Roy A.V.
      • Thai M.
      • Klimes-Dougan B.
      • Westlund Schreiner M.
      • Mueller B.A.
      • Albott C.S.
      • et al.
      Brain entropy and neurotrophic molecular markers accompanying clinical improvement after ketamine: Preliminary evidence in adolescents with treatment-resistant depression.
      ,
      • Tye S.
      • Price J.B.
      • Frye M.
      • Cullen K.M.
      • Bobo W.
      Impaired brain insulin signaling moderates antidepressant response to ketamine. ACNP 57th Annual Meeting: Poster Session I.
      ). Ketamine directly modulates these biological targets and has shown to reduce anhedonia (
      • Lally N.
      • Nugent A.C.
      • Luckenbaugh D.A.
      • Ameli R.
      • Roiser J.P.
      • Zarate C.A.
      Anti-anhedonic effect of ketamine and its neural correlates in treatment-resistant bipolar depression.
      ,
      • Lally N.
      • Nugent A.C.
      • Luckenbaugh D.A.
      • Niciu M.J.
      • Roiser J.P.
      • Zarate Jr., C.A.
      Neural correlates of change in major depressive disorder anhedonia following open-label ketamine.
      ); however, the biological mechanism underlying the antianhedonic effects remains under investigation.
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