Multiple Biomarkers for the Diagnosis and Precision Treatment of Depression
A special issue of Journal of Personalized Medicine (ISSN 2075-4426). This special issue belongs to the section "Disease Biomarker".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2025 | Viewed by 262
Special Issue Editor
Interests: affective disorders; anxiety; major depressive disorder; bipolar disorders; treatment resistance; pharmacogenomics; general psychiatry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As defined by the FDA and NIH, a biomarker is “a defined characteristic that is measured as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes or responses to an exposure or intervention”. Biomarkers have been used and continue to be used widely in almost all branches of medicine, but their use in psychiatry has lagged. This is understandable in view of the complexity and multifaceted presentation and pathologies of psychiatric disorders that make it very difficult to causally associate a distinct characteristic, be it a molecule, a gene, a physiologic process, or a radiographic finding. Frequently, psychiatric disorders coexist either with another primary psychiatric diagnosis or as comorbid diagnoses with medical conditions. Despite these inherent difficulties, the discovery of potential biomarkers linked to a psychiatric condition and/or to a specific symptom within a certain syndrome has shown truly impressive findings over the past few decades and continues to progress at a rapid pace. In this Special Issue, we will not attempt to present the vast array of findings indicative of potential biomarkers for depressive illness, as this would far exceed the limits of a Special Issue. Instead, we will focus on those biomarkers that have been extensively investigated and have been shown to possess validity, sensitivity, and reproducibility both as diagnostic biomarkers but also as monitoring biomarkers indicative of treatment response and overall outcome. Before any biomarker candidate can be approved for general clinical use and coverage by insurance carriers, key criteria and requirements must be met. I believe we have an array of such candidate biomarkers subdivided into the following main categories: molecular, physiologic, radiographic, genomic, and pharmacogenomic biomarkers. Some of these biomarkers can now be obtained during routine assessments, and therefore the immediate goal is to inform practitioners of the importance of including them in routine evaluations. As practitioners gain more experience, it will become easier to obtain formal approvals by licensing agents and insurance coverage.
Prof. Dr. Angelos Halaris
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Personalized Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- depression
- biomarkers
- inflammation
- autoimmunity
- genomics
- physiology
- radiography
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
