Cell Aging and Metabolism in Combat-Related PTSD: Validation and Female Studies
Abstract
Scientific Objective and Rationale: Identifying and characterizing biomarkers of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is critically important in basing diagnoses on biological criteria rather than only self-report and in developing targeted therapies for personalized and more effective treatments. Considerable progress has already been made under two recent principal DOD grants, which have identified several promising biomarkers of PTSD in combat-exposed males. These initial findings require validation in separate male cohorts as well as expansion to female populations with combat-related PTSD. Both of these studies are already recruiting subjects for other analyses, and blood samples will be available for the proposed work. The objective of the proposed research is to expand and validate putative biomarkers for PTSD that we have investigated under previous DOD grants. Methods: The investigators will perform plasma metabolomic assays on both male and female samples. They will determine mitochondrial DNA copy number and will assay mitochondrial function. They will use flow cytometery and other methods to identify and validate signatures of accelerated immune cell aging in post traumatic stress disorder. They will determine the level of inflammation, oxidative stress and metabolic syndrome in post traumatic stress disorder samples. They will measure allopregnanolone and related neurosteroids. Contributions to Advancing the Field of PTSD Research: We aim to apply these assays and analyses to future larger, and in some cases, longitudinal cohorts as well as pre/post deployment and pre/post-intervention cohorts. Pre/post designs would be especially meaningful in assessing causality between these biomarkers and PTSD symptoms, potentially allowing us to develop better early diagnosis markers and novel therapeutic targets.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 12, 2017
- Source ID
- W911NF1610355
Entities
People
- Owen M. Wolkowitz
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- University of California, San Francisco