Alpha-Synuclein RNA Expression is Increased in Major Depression

• Main Authors: Andrea Rotter, Bernd Lenz, Ruben Pitsch, Tanja Richter-Schmidinger, Johannes Kornhuber, Cosima Rhein
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-04-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: alpha-synuclein; SNCA; major depression; Hamilton Scale of Depression
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/8/2029

Alpha-synuclein (SNCA) is a small membrane protein that plays an important role in neuro-psychiatric diseases. It is best known for its abnormal subcellular aggregation in Lewy bodies that serves as a hallmark of Parkinson&#8217;s disease (PD). Due to the high comorbidity of PD with depression, we investigated the role of SNCA in patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). <i>SNCA</i> mRNA expression levels were analyzed in peripheral blood cells of MDD patients and a healthy control group. <i>SNCA</i> mRNA expression was positively correlated with severity of depression as indicated by psychometric assessment. We found a significant increase in <i>SNCA</i> mRNA expression levels in severely depressed patients compared with controls. Thus, SNCA analysis could be a helpful target in the search for biomarkers of MDD.