Symposium
Session Room 219
Session Room 219
Tuesday, June 17, 10:50 AM – 12:05 PM
Symposium 9: The Role of Biomarkers in The Development of More Personalized and Effective Treatments for Psychiatric Disorders
A major challenge in optimizing existing treatments for psychiatric disorders is identifying predictive markers of individual patient treatment response profiles [1]. This symposium aims to explore the role of neuroimaging, electrophysiological, proteomic, and immunometabolic biomarkers in the development of more personalized and effective treatments in the field of psychiatry.
Speaker 1
Mag de Rozario (she/her) from Orygen and The University of Melbourne (Australia) will open the symposium with an introduction to the issue of heterogeneity in symptomatic and functional psychopharmacological treatment outcomes in psychotic disorders [2]. In her talk, Mag will share key findings from a systematic review of neuroimaging markers of response to first-line medications for psychosis. This includes (1) showcasing the breadth of work that has been conducted on this topic between 1980 and 2024, (2) highlighting patterns in the literature that show promise for effective treatment stratification, and (3) presenting methodological considerations for future studies on this topic that will support progress towards the clinical implementation of evidence-informed treatment stratification strtategies.
Speaker 2
Dr. Moritz Haaf (he/him) from University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany) will carry on the topic of psychotic disorders, focusing on the development of novel transdiagnostic protein-based biomarkers for psychosis. In his talk, Moritz will present data from the Human Connectome Project for Early Psychosis (HCP-EP) [3], which used advanced proteomic analyses to identify inflammation and aging-related protein markers in a transdiagnostic psychosis sample (n = 85) and matched health controls (n = 35). Consistent with previous research on serious mental illness [4,5], there was an enrichment in overexpressed protein-sets related to inflammation and aging in individuals with psychosis, pronounced in those with non-affective psychosis. These protein-sets, along with senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) protein indices, correlated with physical health parameters (i.e. age, sex, BMI, and alcohol consumption), highlighting a whole-body perspective on mental illness and the potential for new putative markers that could lead to more personalized and effective treatments.
Speaker 3
Dr. Laura Han (she/her), from Amsterdam University Medical Center (The Netherlands), will conclude the symposium with an exploration of the relationship between stress-related disorders and biological aging. Her talk will focus on her research into peripheral and central markers of biological age, including telomere length, telomerase activity, and imaging-derived brain age [6,7]. Specifically, Laura will present findings from a study comparing antidepressants to a 16-week trial of running therapy in individuals with depression and anxiety disorders [8,9]. Her presentation will address whether biological aging: (a) differs between individuals with stress-related disorders and healthy controls at the onset of treatment; (b) predicts clinical outcomes or treatment responses when measured at baseline; and (c) shows improvement in tandem with clinical recovery following treatment.
Speaker 1
Mag de Rozario (she/her) from Orygen and The University of Melbourne (Australia) will open the symposium with an introduction to the issue of heterogeneity in symptomatic and functional psychopharmacological treatment outcomes in psychotic disorders [2]. In her talk, Mag will share key findings from a systematic review of neuroimaging markers of response to first-line medications for psychosis. This includes (1) showcasing the breadth of work that has been conducted on this topic between 1980 and 2024, (2) highlighting patterns in the literature that show promise for effective treatment stratification, and (3) presenting methodological considerations for future studies on this topic that will support progress towards the clinical implementation of evidence-informed treatment stratification strtategies.
Speaker 2
Dr. Moritz Haaf (he/him) from University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Germany) will carry on the topic of psychotic disorders, focusing on the development of novel transdiagnostic protein-based biomarkers for psychosis. In his talk, Moritz will present data from the Human Connectome Project for Early Psychosis (HCP-EP) [3], which used advanced proteomic analyses to identify inflammation and aging-related protein markers in a transdiagnostic psychosis sample (n = 85) and matched health controls (n = 35). Consistent with previous research on serious mental illness [4,5], there was an enrichment in overexpressed protein-sets related to inflammation and aging in individuals with psychosis, pronounced in those with non-affective psychosis. These protein-sets, along with senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) protein indices, correlated with physical health parameters (i.e. age, sex, BMI, and alcohol consumption), highlighting a whole-body perspective on mental illness and the potential for new putative markers that could lead to more personalized and effective treatments.
Speaker 3
Dr. Laura Han (she/her), from Amsterdam University Medical Center (The Netherlands), will conclude the symposium with an exploration of the relationship between stress-related disorders and biological aging. Her talk will focus on her research into peripheral and central markers of biological age, including telomere length, telomerase activity, and imaging-derived brain age [6,7]. Specifically, Laura will present findings from a study comparing antidepressants to a 16-week trial of running therapy in individuals with depression and anxiety disorders [8,9]. Her presentation will address whether biological aging: (a) differs between individuals with stress-related disorders and healthy controls at the onset of treatment; (b) predicts clinical outcomes or treatment responses when measured at baseline; and (c) shows improvement in tandem with clinical recovery following treatment.