The search for imaging biomarkers in psychiatric disorders Flashcards
what is the definition of biomarkers?
objective biological measures that can predict clinical outcomes
What is the precision medicine initiative?
Treatment and prevention for each person is carried out by taking into account:
- the individual’s genes
- environment and lifestyle
- relies heavily on biomarkers.
What authoritative state did the precision medicine initiative gain and when?
it gained official support from the White house in January 2015
Which disease group has the precision medicine technique been influential in?
Cancer treatment
- drugs that target specific molecular-signalling pathways related to genetic mutations
What does the precision medicine initiative allow?
Treatments are therefore tailored to a patient’s genomic profile
What disease treatment is the precision medicine initiative application the most challenging and why?
In psychiatry due to the unknown complex interactive links from genes to behaviour
What are psychiatric disorders responsible for in the population?
Personal, social and financial burden
What was the estimated cost for psychiatric disorders in the USA in 2006?
57 billion dollars
What is the total indirect annual cost of mental illnesses in the USA?
193 billion dollars
How can biomarkers help reduce costs of mental illness (treatment)?
By enabling better and earlier detection and improved treatments.
What are the two types of biomarkers?
Diagnostic biomarkers- index a biological process associated with health or disease
Predicitive biomarkers- reflect a process associated with the therapeutic response and are used in clinical stratification
What does neuroimaging allow?
Identification of process associated with the therapeutic response and indexing a biological process associated with health or disease
What can PET measure?
The phenotypic variations in molecular and cellular disease targets
What can structural or fMRI measure?
Phenotypic variations in specific brain circuits that are a unique representation of the interaction between genes and environment and are associated with specific alterations in behaviour
What factor determines whether specific neuroimaging techniques can become imaging biomarkers for psychiatric disorders?
If these measures can demonstrate sufficient precision and reliability and can predict a clinical diagnosis or outcome
What is this review about?
Discusses the main challenges of developing imaging biomarkers for psychiatric disorders and outline crucial benchmarks for the translation of neuroimaging findings into clinically useful biomarkers.
What is the main challenge of developing imaging biomarkers for psychiatric disorders?
The definition of psychiatric disorders according to the DSM and ICD is based on combinations of symptoms alone.
What do ICD and DSM stand for?
International Classification of Diseases
Diagnostic Statistical Manual
What other non imaging modalities collaboratively with neuroimaging techniques in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders?
Genetic
Peripheral Blood based tests
Cognitive based tests
What do NIH and NIHM stand for?
National Institute Health and National Institute of Mental Health
What was the new classification system developed by the NIHM?
It was based on the RDoC the research domain criteria
What does the RDoC approach entail?
New way of classifying mental disorders based on dimensions of observable behaviour and neurological measures
Which elements does the RDoC approach aim to identify?
Genes, molecules, cells, circuits, physiological measures and behaviours associated with specific cognitive constructs across different systems
What does SPECT stand for?
Single photon emission computer tomography
What does MRS stand for?
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
What does PET stand for?
Positron Emission Tomography
Which neuroimaging techniques fit well with the RDoC approach? Why?
PET, SPECT, MRS
They can identify biomarkers related to the cells and circuits
What does DTI stand for?
Diffusion tensor imaging
What does DTI do?
Can produce images of anatomical pathways and circuits
What does fMRI do?
During rest and task performance affords characterisation of functional circuits
Will the RDoC replace current categorical methods?
Unlikely but it can aid in the search for biomarkers
What type of biomarkers can be identified with the RDoC approach?
Neuroimaging markers of cognitive functions such as reward learning or working memory impaired aross psychiatric conditions.
What characteristic was identified in schizophrenic patients during a working memory task?
Disrupted activation of a distinct neural pattern in the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex that correlated with reductions in working memory capacity
What is the second challenge to biomarker identification in psychiatric disorders?
The pathological features of psychiatric diseases may be subtle and elusive to neuroimaging.
What is a way to deepen the insight biomarker analysis using neuroimaging techniques?
By Using task-based assessments or other challenge paradigms that reveal ‘at work’ pathological phenotypes
Name one way to improve biomarker identification with regards to imaging tools?
Develop novel tracers for uncharted molecular targets, example: neuroinflammation imaging tracers (identified changes in those tracers seen in MDD in schizophrenia)
Can the results from imaging studies be 100% reliable?
No because replication is less valued than novelty.
Which phase is the neuroimaging field in, and what does that phase entail?
In the mechanistic discovery phase, more effort is focused on uncovering alterations in imaging measures than pursuit of promising biomarkers.
What is necessary in order to produce a larger pool of biomarkers?
The need for replication using identical paradigms in well-powered studies be accepted as the norm.
What strategy could spur the search and development of imaging biomarkers in DSM diagnosed psychiatric disorders?
Precision-medicine like study involving 1000 volunteers with a specific DSM diagnosis with several imaging modalities.
What does validation of biomarkers entail?
The comparison of a prediction with an actual outcome
What type of predictions and outcomes does biomarker validation consider?
Diagnostic
Histologic
therapeutic
What does validation require?
Correlative analysis of in vivo imaging measures against in vitro i.e. postmortem histological examinations of brain tissue (unavailable for psychiatric disorders).
What is needed to establish a clinical diagnosis or observed clinical outcome that can be compared to the biomarker prediction?
Longitudinal follow-up
What is a characteristic a biomarker must possess in order to be used for clinical practise?
An acceptable level of sensitivity, specificity and predictive value to be easily acceptable, practically feasible, easily quantifiable and cost effective.