The new research platform is not yet a diagnostic test but represents a first step towards one, according to a press release from the Wrocław research centre.

“Diagnosis of mental disorders is currently based on a conversation with a doctor — subjective, dependent on the doctor’s experience and the patient’s ability to describe symptoms. Treatment itself is often a trial-and-error process,” Łukasiewicz-PORT said in the release.

The scientists have created and tested instructions that will enable laboratories around the world to reproduce the characteristics of mental illnesses in a consistent and comparable way.

“It is impossible to study the brain and conduct scientific experiments on a living organism, so scientists recreate the brain environment — the cells, the connections between them, the diseases — in laboratories. The problem is that everyone does it differently, so we cannot say with certainty that we achieve the same results,” said Witold Konopka, PhD, leader of the SAME-NeuroID project that developed the protocols.

According to Konopka, reaching the clinical trial stage and introducing diagnostic tests for conditions such as depression will require that research be “conducted in a repeatable, comparable, and scalable manner across various research centres.”

The project team includes Konopka, Michał Ślęzak, Michał Malewicz, PhD, Agnieszka Krzyżosiak, PhD, Tomasz Prószyński, PhD, Bartosz Zglinicki, PhD, Ewa Mrówczyńska, PhD, and Bertrand Dupont, PhD.

“Scientists begin their work by reprogramming adult skin or blood cells into stem cells, which have the ability to transform into any cell type in the body. These cells retain the patient’s genetic code, meaning they contain information about hereditary diseases, gene variants associated with the risk of mental disorders, and individual biological characteristics that influence brain function,” the press release said.

From these stem cells, researchers create neurons, astrocytes, and brain organoids, which are used to study disruptions in neural communication linked to depression or schizophrenia.

The team also examines a gene that regulates stress resistance; disrupting its activity causes longer and more severe stress responses, which increase the risk of depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Organoids — three-dimensional structures resembling sections of the brain — make it possible to study brain development in autism, model complex diseases, and test drugs under conditions closely mirroring those in the human brain.

The reproducibility of the Łukasiewicz-PORT protocols has been confirmed in partner laboratories at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, and the ICM Institute for Brain and Spinal Cord in Paris.

The research platform “is not yet a diagnostic test, but a first step towards it,” Konopka said. “It is also a significant technological advancement that positions us at the forefront of modern psychiatric research. We have also begun collaboration with industry, as this solution is ready for implementation in preclinical, clinical, and industrial studies.”

“The goal of scientists is not to replace doctors, but to equip psychiatrists and patients themselves with tools that support the diagnosis and effective treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders,” the press release added.

According to the World Health Organization, depression is the single largest contributor to disability worldwide and the leading cause of suicide, responsible for nearly 800,000 deaths per year.

A 2023 European Commission report found that 46% of Europeans experienced mental health problems such as depression within the previous 12 months, and only half sought professional help. (PAP)

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