Association of Peripheral Immune Cells With Antidepressant Treatment Response

The purpose of this observational study is discovering potential biomarkers to predict antidepressant treatment response in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) while comparing the transcriptomic changes between patients with MDD and healthy controls as well as before and after antidepressant treatment. Eligible patients will be assessed at Week 1, Week 2, Week 4 and Week 8 while healthy normal volunteers will only be evaluated at baseline. Assessments will include the following: an interview about mental and physical health, a physical examination including drawing of venous blood samples and several psychiatric rating scales.