Novel biomarkers in major depression

Purpose of review This article reviews literature published over the period January 2011-June 2012 on biomarkers in major depression. Recent findings Although a large body of research accumulated over the past decades points to distinct biological mechanisms being involved in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD), its precise pathobiology is not yet fully understood. In the last 2 years, substantial new research has been generated in an attempt to identify and characterize novel candidate biomarkers for MDD. This review provides an update on biomarker research in MDD and summarizes the most recent results from neuroimaging, genetic, epigenetic, and neurochemical studies in MDD. Summary Promising new findings report high diagnostic accuracy for metabonomic and epigenetic approaches as well as combinatorial functional neuroimaging approaches, which are currently representing the forefront of MDD biomarker development.