Clinical significance of decreased protein expression of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in the development of depression: A meta-analysis

Abstract Background Previous evidence has shown that adrenal androgens, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate derivative (DHEAS) have significant functions related to the control of mood, affect, and anxiety. Changes in their expression levels are reportedly related to several psychiatric disorders. The objective of this meta-analysis was to explore the role of DHEAS protein expression in patients with depression. Method Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CISCOM, CINAHL, Google Scholar, China BioMedicine (CBM) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were electronically searched. Only those studies that analyzing DHEAS expression in depression patients were considered eligible for inclusion. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were pooled with a 95% confidence interval (CI) in accordance with the random-effects model. Results Ten clinical case-control studies, consisting of 4496 subjects (493 patients with depression and 4003 healthy controls) were incorporated for analysis. Results revealed a lower DHEAS protein expression level in patients with depression than in normal controls (SMD=0.17, 95% CI: 0.06–0.27, P =0.002). Ethnicity-stratified analysis indicated that lower levels of DHEAS expression in depression patients were not observed in Caucasians or Asians (both P >0.05). Conclusion Elevated DHEAS protein expression may be correlated with the biological pathophysiology of depression, indicating that checking DHEAS levels and administration of DHEAS could contribute to the effective treatment of depression.