Future antidepressant targets: neurotrophic factors and related signaling cascades

Preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate that neurotrophic factors play critical roles in the etiology and treatment of depression. While the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic efficacy of antidepressants remain unknown, increasing evidence supports a role for increased trophic support in the treatment of depression. Furthermore, antidepressants block or reverse stress-induced downregulation of neurotrophic factor expression in limbic and cortical nuclei involved in the underlying pathophysiology of depression. Thus, components of neurotrophic factor-mediated signaling cascades or the signal transduction pathways that regulate neurotrophic factor expression may provide additional targets for the development of novel, more efficacious antidepressant drugs.

Section editor:Leslie Iversen – Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, UK