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World J Psychiatr. Oct 19, 2021; 11(10): 774-790
Published online Oct 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i10.774
‘Omics’ of suicidal behaviour: A path to personalised psychiatry
Katarina Kouter, Alja Videtic Paska
Katarina Kouter, Alja Videtic Paska, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana SI-1000, Slovenia
Author contributions: Videtic Paska A and Kouter K organized and planned the manuscript; Kouter K wrote a part of MS regarding use of omics in suicidal behaviour research: Epigenomics, proteomics, and building the bridge between personalised medicine and psychiatry; Videtic Paska A wrote the introduction, use of omics in suicidal behaviour research: Genomics, metabolomics; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript; Kouter K and Videtic Paska A declare equal contribution to this manuscript.
Supported by the Slovenian Research Agency Research Programme, No. P1-0390, No. J3-7132, and No. Z3-2653.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Nothing to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Alja Videtic Paska, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov Trg 2, Ljubljana SI-1000, Slovenia. alja.videtic@mf.uni-lj.si
Received: February 27, 2021
Peer-review started: February 27, 2021
First decision: July 15, 2021
Revised: July 16, 2021
Accepted: August 30, 2021
Article in press: August 30, 2021
Published online: October 19, 2021
Processing time: 229 Days and 16.1 Hours
Abstract

Psychiatric disorders, including suicide, are complex disorders that are affected by many different risk factors. It has been estimated that genetic factors contribute up to 50% to suicide risk. As the candidate gene approach has not identified a gene or set of genes that can be defined as biomarkers for suicidal behaviour, much is expected from cutting edge technological approaches that can interrogate several hundred, or even millions, of biomarkers at a time. These include the ‘-omic’ approaches, such as genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics and metabolomics. Indeed, these have revealed new candidate biomarkers associated with suicidal behaviour. The most interesting of these have been implicated in inflammation and immune responses, which have been revealed through different study approaches, from genome-wide single nucleotide studies and the micro-RNA transcriptome, to the proteome and metabolome. However, the massive amounts of data that are generated by the ‘-omic’ technologies demand the use of powerful computational analysis, and also specifically trained personnel. In this regard, machine learning approaches are beginning to pave the way towards personalized psychiatry.

Keywords: Epigenomics; DNA methylation; Micro-RNA; Genome; Metabolome; Suicide

Core Tip: Suicide is major public health concern worldwide, and at the same time, it is preventable when timely measures are taken. The biological basis of suicidal behaviour is not a product of a single gene, transcript, protein or metabolite; rather, it is represented by intertwined cellular mechanisms, cell types and tissue changes, and based on numerous molecular pathways. The ‘-omic’ technologies might represent the missing link between the current state of psychiatry and future personalised approaches, through the combination of -omics-derived information and the diagnostic process. However, first we need precise, specific and validated biomarkers.