Abstract
Symptoms of depression are common among persons with HIV (PWH) and can have a significant impact on socioeconomic and personal well-being, but little is known about their neurobiological substrates in the context of HIV disease. This study examined the possible role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in symptoms of depression and other aspects of mood in 109 PWH and 43 seronegative participants aged 50 and older. Participants completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS) which measured six dimensions of mood and was normatively adjusted for sex. A model controlling for medical comorbidities and substance use diagnoses among PWH showed a significant interaction between BDNF and POMS subscales. Planned post hoc analyses revealed that lower BDNF was only associated with higher scores on Depression-Dejection and Confusion-Bewilderment POMS subscales among PWH and at small-to-medium effect sizes. Lower levels of BDNF were associated with AIDS diagnoses and CD4 count, but not with viremia or duration of infection. BDNF levels did not differ between the PWH and HIV − samples, and there were no significant correlations between BDNF and any POMS variable in the HIV − group. Findings implicate BDNF in the neuropathophysiology of specific depressive symptoms in the context of HIV disease. Future studies may examine whether BDNF levels change over time, are sensitive to other aspects of mood disorders in HIV, and are associated with markers of HIV-associated neural injury.
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Acknowledgments
The Neuropsychiatry Program is supported by the UT Health Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. The authors are grateful for the considerable efforts of Marizela Verduzco for coordination of the parent project; Dr. J. Hampton Atkinson and Jennifer Marquie Beck for participant recruitment; grant co-investigators Drs. Mark Bondi and Elizabeth Twamley, Drs. Scott Letendre, and Sara Gianella Weibel for overseeing the neuromedical aspects of the parent project; and Donald R. Franklin, Stephanie Corkran, Jessica Beltran, and Javier Villalobos for data processing.
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This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01-MH073419 and P30-MH062512.
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Drs. Teixeira, Woods, and Shahani all contributed to the study conception and design. Aspects of material preparation, data collection and processing were performed by Drs. Morgan and Colpo and Ms. Babicz. Data analysis was conducted by Dr. Woods and Ms. Babicz. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Drs. Teixeira and Woods and all authors approved the final manuscript and byline.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, nor the US Government.
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Woods, S.P., Babicz, M., Shahani, L. et al. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is associated with depressive symptoms in older adults with HIV disease. J. Neurovirol. 27, 70–79 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-020-00916-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13365-020-00916-2