Supplementary Material for: A Follow-Up Study of 50 Chronic Hepatitis C Patients: Adiponectin as a Resilience Biomarker for Major Depression

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> Major depression (MD) is a condition associated with both hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and pegylated interferon (IFN)-α treatment. IFN induces a depressive syndrome that is associated with an inflammatory profile. We aimed to investigate whether there is any specific alteration in plasma biomarkers associated with MD. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> HCV-monoinfected patients, with and without IFN treatment, were followed up for 18 months and went through structured psychiatric evaluation. We assessed plasma levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and its soluble type 1 and type 2 receptors (sTNFR1 and sTNFR2, respectively), and adipokines (adiponectin, leptin and resistin) using ELISA. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Among the 50 patients included in the study, 14 were treated with IFN during the follow-up. Being older, not married, presenting higher body mass index, higher liver inflammatory activity, lower baseline adiponectin levels and use of IFN were associated with MD development. Higher levels of sTNFR1 during IFN treatment were associated with sustained virological response. The lack of a control group without HCV infection did not allow any assumption of a biomarker change exclusively due to the infection itself. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Adiponectin may be a resilience biomarker for MD in HCV-infected patients.

<b><i>研究目的：</i></b> 重度抑郁症（Major Depression, MD）与丙型肝炎病毒（hepatitis C virus, HCV）感染及聚乙二醇干扰素α（pegylated interferon, IFN-α）治疗均存在关联。IFN可诱发与炎症特征相关的抑郁综合征。本研究旨在探讨血浆生物标志物是否存在与MD相关的特异性改变。<b><i>研究方法：</i></b> 对合并/未合并IFN治疗的HCV单一感染患者开展为期18个月的随访，并完成结构化精神评估。采用酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）检测血浆脑源性神经营养因子、肿瘤坏死因子（tumor necrosis factor, TNF）及其可溶性1型、2型受体（分别为sTNFR1和sTNFR2），以及脂肪因子（脂联素、瘦素、抵抗素）的水平。<b><i>研究结果：</i></b> 本研究共纳入50例患者，其中14例在随访期间接受了IFN治疗。高龄、未婚、体质量指数更高、肝脏炎症活动度更高、基线脂联素水平更低以及IFN使用，均与MD的发生相关。IFN治疗期间较高的sTNFR1水平与持续病毒学应答相关。由于未设置无HCV感染的对照组，无法推断仅由HCV感染本身引发的生物标志物变化。<b><i>研究结论：</i></b> 脂联素或可成为HCV感染患者中MD的抗逆性生物标志物。