The present disclosure provides methods for diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders in female subjects. Diagnosis and treatment of such anxiety disorders are based, in part, on an analysis of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) expression levels in tissue collected from female subjects.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for identifying a physiologically active protein translated from an ORF other than mORF present on mRNA.

The object can be solved by a method for identifying a physiologically active protein, wherein an ORF which encodes a protein having a physiological activity, other than a main open reading frame (ORF) is identified in eukaryotic mRNA, comprising the steps of: (1) introducing an expression vector incorporating a candidate ORF to cells, and culturing the introduced cells, (2) detecting a protein bound to a candidate protein by immunoprecipitating the candidate protein translated from the candidate ORF, from the cultured cells, (3) determining a candidate protein in which another protein bound to the candidate protein is detected as a physiologically active protein.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a biomarker for psychiatric and neurological disorders, in particular, a biomarker for diagnosing psychiatric and neurological disorders; and a test kit and test method for psychiatric and neurological disorders. The inventors discovered that there is a significant increase in the concentration of free immunoglobulin chains and free immunoglobulin chains in the blood samples from patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders. Consequently, the present invention provides a biomarker for psychiatric and neurological disorders that includes at least one selected from the group consisting of free immunoglobulin chains, free immunoglobulin chains, and fragments thereof. Using this biomarker for psychiatric and neurological disorders enables the psychiatric and neurological disorders to be easily tested and diagnosed with the blood samples from the subjects. The biomarker enables more effective tests and diagnoses to be conducted combining inflammatory cytokines in the blood of patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders.

The methods of the present invention are useful for determining whether an individual has or is at risk of developing an affective disorder by detecting the expression level of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in a biological sample. The methods of the present invention are also useful for identifying compounds that modulate (e.g., decrease) the expression level or activity of CTGF. The present invention further provides therapeutic methods that target CTGF for the treatment of an affective disorder.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a biomarker for psychiatric and neurological disorders, in particular, a biomarker for diagnosing psychiatric and neurological disorders; and a test kit and test method for psychiatric and neurological disorders. The inventors discovered that there is a significant increase in the concentration of free immunoglobulin chains and free immunoglobulin chains in the blood samples from patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders. Consequently, the present invention provides a biomarker for psychiatric and neurological disorders that includes at least one selected from the group consisting of free immunoglobulin chains, free immunoglobulin chains, and fragments thereof. Using this biomarker for psychiatric and neurological disorders enables the psychiatric and neurological disorders to be easily tested and diagnosed with the blood samples from the subjects. The biomarker enables more effective tests and diagnoses to be conducted combining inflammatory cytokines in the blood of patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders.

The present disclosure provides methods for diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders in female subjects. Diagnosis and treatment of such anxiety disorders are based, in part, on an analysis of pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) expression levels in tissue collected from female subjects.

The present invention relates to a vasopressin receptor 1B (V.sub.1B) antagonist for use in the treatment of depressive symptoms and/or anxiety symptoms in patients showing an elevated arginine vasopressin (AVP) level and/or an elevated copeptin level. The present invention further relates to a method for predicting the treatment response to a V.sub.1B antagonist in patients with depressive symptoms and/or anxiety symptoms.

The present invention relates to the field of biomarkers. More specifically, the present invention relates to the use of biomarkers to predict post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In one embodiment, a method for predicting PTSD in a subject comprises the steps of (a) measuring the DNA methylation level of a CpG dinucleotide in the 3 untranslated region of SKA2; (b) identifying the genotype at a SNP within the 3 UTR of SKA2, and (c) predicting PTSD in the subject using a prediction algorithm.

The invention provides a method of assessing the susceptibility of a subject to, or aiding the diagnosis of, an anxiety disorder or depression, the method comprising determining whether the subject has a haplotype comprising rs3216799, rs6814934, rs7658048, rs2070950 and rs2070951 with respective alleles +CT, C, T, C and C. The invention provides a kit of parts or solid substrate for use in assessing the susceptibility of a subject to an anxiety disorder or depression, the kit comprising or the solid substrate having attached thereto one or more nucleic acid molecules that hybridise selectively to a genomic region encompassing any two or more SNPs selected from the group consisting of rs3216799, rs6814934, rs7658048, rs2070950 and rs2070951, and/or that hybridise selectively to a genomic region encompassing two or more polymorphic sites in linkage disequilibrium with any one or more SNPs selected from the group consisting of rs3216799, rs6814934, rs7658048, rs2070950 and rs2070951.

The invention relates to methods of determining whether or not an individual has or is likely to develop a neurological disease and related methods and kits.