Plasma circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA in social anxiety disorder

Daniel Lindqvist; Tomas Furmark; Catharina Lavebratt; Lars Ohlsson; Kristoffer N T Månsson

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.106001

Plasma circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA in social anxiety disorder

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2023 Feb:148:106001. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.106001. Epub 2022 Dec 7.

Authors

Daniel Lindqvist¹, Tomas Furmark², Catharina Lavebratt³, Lars Ohlsson⁴, Kristoffer N T Månsson⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; Office for Psychiatry and Habilitation, Psychiatry Research Skåne, Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: daniel.lindqvist@med.lu.se.
² Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
³ Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, and Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
⁵ Center for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

PMID: 36508952
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.106001

Abstract

Objective: To investigate plasma levels of circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA (ccf-mtDNA) in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and healthy controls (HC).

Methods: In this study, 88 participants (46 patients with SAD and 42 HCs) were enrolled and both ccf-mtDNA and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) mtDNA copy number (mtDNA-cn) were measured at up to three times per individual (9-11 weeks apart). SAD patients also received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) between the second and third time-point.

Results: SAD patients had significantly lower ccf-mtDNA compared to HCs at all time points, but ccf-mtDNA did not change significantly after CBT, and was not associated with severity of anxiety symptoms. Plasma ccf-mtDNA did not significantly correlate with PBMC mtDNA-cn in patients.

Conclusion: This is the first report of lower ccf-mtDNA in patients with an anxiety disorder. Our findings could reflect a more chronic illness course in SAD patients with prolonged periods of psychological stress leading to decreased levels of ccf-mtDNA, but future longitudinal studies are needed to confirm or refute this hypothesis.

Keywords: Circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA; Cognitive behavioural therapy; Social anxiety disorder.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anxiety Disorders
Cell-Free Nucleic Acids* / genetics
DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
Humans
Leukocytes, Mononuclear
Mitochondria / genetics
Phobia, Social*

Substances

DNA, Mitochondrial
Cell-Free Nucleic Acids