
Professor
Ob/Gyn, Reproductive Sciences
+1 415 502-4844
Synthia Mellon, PhD studies neural development and steroidogenesis.
Publications
Cognitive function in physically healthy, unmedicated individuals with major depression: Relationship with depressive symptoms and antidepressant response.
Journal of affective disorders
Kynurenine Metabolism is Associated with Antidepressant Response to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor, Val66Met polymorphism and open-label SSRI treatment response in Major Depressive Disorder.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA levels and glucocorticoid sensitivity in a cohort of male veterans with and without combat-related PTSD.
Translational psychiatry
Integrated analysis of proteomics, epigenomics and metabolomics data revealed divergent pathway activation patterns in the recent versus chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
Brain, behavior, and immunity
Shorter telomere length predicts poor antidepressant response and poorer cardiometabolic indices in major depression.
Scientific reports
Molecular signatures of post-traumatic stress disorder in war-zone-exposed veteran and active-duty soldiers.
Cell reports. Medicine
The Genetic Basis for the Increased Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome among Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Patients.
International journal of molecular sciences
Dimensions of childhood adversity differentially affect biological aging in major depression.
Translational psychiatry
Blood-based mitochondrial respiratory chain function in major depression.
Translational psychiatry
Abnormal levels of mitochondrial proteins in plasma neuronal extracellular vesicles in major depressive disorder.
Molecular psychiatry
Correction: A DNA methylation clock associated with age-related illnesses and mortality is accelerated in men with combat PTSD.
Molecular psychiatry
Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor remains elevated after long term follow-up of combat veterans with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Utilization of machine learning for identifying symptom severity military-related PTSD subtypes and their biological correlates.
Translational psychiatry
"GrimAge," an epigenetic predictor of mortality, is accelerated in major depressive disorder.
Translational psychiatry
Epigenetic biotypes of post-traumatic stress disorder in war-zone exposed veteran and active duty males.
Molecular psychiatry
Pre-deployment risk factors for PTSD in active-duty personnel deployed to Afghanistan: a machine-learning approach for analyzing multivariate predictors.
Molecular psychiatry
Pre-treatment allostatic load and metabolic dysregulation predict SSRI response in major depressive disorder: a preliminary report.
Psychological medicine
A DNA methylation clock associated with age-related illnesses and mortality is accelerated in men with combat PTSD.
Molecular psychiatry
Role of enhanced glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity in inflammation in PTSD: insights from computational model for circadian-neuroendocrine-immune interactions.
American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism
Effect of Combat Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder on Telomere Length and Amygdala Volume.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging
Vitamin D and inflammation in major depressive disorder.
Journal of affective disorders
Novel Pharmacological Targets for Combat PTSD-Metabolism, Inflammation, The Gut Microbiome, and Mitochondrial Dysfunction.
Military medicine
Multi-omic biomarker identification and validation for diagnosing warzone-related post-traumatic stress disorder.
Molecular psychiatry
Accelerated aging in serious mental disorders.
Current opinion in psychiatry
Cortisol, moderated by age, is associated with antidepressant treatment outcome and memory improvement in Major Depressive Disorder: A retrospective analysis.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Mechanistic inferences on metabolic dysfunction in posttraumatic stress disorder from an integrated model and multiomic analysis: role of glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity.
American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism
Accelerating research on biological aging and mental health: Current challenges and future directions.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Low serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor is associated with suicidal ideation in major depressive disorder.
Psychiatry research
Epigenetic Age in Male Combat-Exposed War Veterans: Associations with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Status.
Molecular neuropsychiatry
Posttraumatic stress disorder, symptoms, and white matter abnormalities among combat-exposed veterans.
Brain imaging and behavior
Metabolism, Metabolomics, and Inflammation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
Biological psychiatry
Circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA, but not leukocyte mitochondrial DNA copy number, is elevated in major depressive disorder.
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Increased circulating blood cell counts in combat-related PTSD: Associations with inflammation and PTSD severity.
Psychiatry research
Whole-genome DNA methylation status associated with clinical PTSD measures of OIF/OEF veterans.
Translational psychiatry
Telomere length is inversely correlated with urinary stress hormone levels in healthy controls but not in un-medicated depressed individuals-preliminary findings.
Journal of psychosomatic research
Severity of anxiety- but not depression- is associated with oxidative stress in Major Depressive Disorder.
Journal of affective disorders
Biological predictors of insulin resistance associated with posttraumatic stress disorder in young military veterans.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Higher serum DHEA concentrations before and after SSRI treatment are associated with remission of major depression.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Oxidative stress, inflammation and treatment response in major depression.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Increased pro-inflammatory milieu in combat related PTSD - A new cohort replication study.
Brain, behavior, and immunity
Cortisol/DHEA ratio and hippocampal volume: A pilot study in major depression and healthy controls.
Psychoneuroendocrinology
Leukocyte telomere length predicts SSRI response in major depressive disorder: A preliminary report.
Molecular neuropsychiatry
Alterations in leukocyte transcriptional control pathway activity associated with major depressive disorder and antidepressant treatment.
Translational psychiatry
A population of atypical CD56(-)CD16(+) natural killer cells is expanded in PTSD and is associated with symptom severity.
Brain, behavior, and immunity
Neuroscience-informed Auditory Training in Schizophrenia: A Final Report of the Effects on Cognition and Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor.
Schizophrenia research. Cognition
Association of dimensional psychological health measures with telomere length in male war veterans.
Journal of affective disorders
Global arginine bioavailability, a marker of nitric oxide synthetic capacity, is decreased in PTSD and correlated with symptom severity and markers of inflammation.
Brain, behavior, and immunity
Evidence for disrupted gray matter structural connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder.
Psychiatry research
Telomerase activation as a possible mechanism of action for psychopharmacological interventions.
Drug discovery today
Mitochondrial DNA copy number is reduced in male combat veterans with PTSD.
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
Psychiatric disorders and leukocyte telomere length: Underlying mechanisms linking mental illness with cellular aging.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
PBMC telomerase activity, but not leukocyte telomere length, correlates with hippocampal volume in major depression.
Psychiatry research
Peripheral antioxidant markers are associated with total hippocampal and CA3/dentate gyrus volume in MDD and healthy controls-preliminary findings.
Psychiatry research
Adverse childhood experiences and leukocyte telomere maintenance in depressed and healthy adults.
Journal of affective disorders
Proinflammatory milieu in combat-related PTSD is independent of depression and early life stress.
Brain, behavior, and immunity
Dysregulated relationship of inflammation and oxidative stress in major depression.
Brain, behavior, and immunity
A culture system to study oligodendrocyte myelination processes using engineered nanofibers.
Nature methods
Expression of P450c17 in the human fetal nervous system.
Endocrinology
Oligogenesis and oligodendrocyte progenitor maturation vary in different brain regions and partially correlate with local angiogenesis after ischemic stroke.
Translational stroke research
Serum BDNF levels before treatment predict SSRI response in depression.
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
Resting leukocyte telomerase activity is elevated in major depression and predicts treatment response.
Molecular psychiatry
Of sound mind and body: depression, disease, and accelerated aging.
Dialogues in clinical neuroscience
Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor predicts responses to escitalopram in chronic posttraumatic stress disorder.
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
Depression gets old fast: do stress and depression accelerate cell aging?
Depression and anxiety
Analyses and comparisons of telomerase activity and telomere length in human T and B cells: insights for epidemiology of telomere maintenance.
Journal of immunological methods
Low serum IL-10 concentrations and loss of regulatory association between IL-6 and IL-10 in adults with major depression.
Journal of psychiatric research
Is serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor a biomarker for cognitive enhancement in schizophrenia?
Biological psychiatry
Neurobiological and neuropsychiatric effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA sulfate (DHEAS).
Frontiers in neuroendocrinology
Oxidative stress in NPC1 deficient cells: protective effect of allopregnanolone.
Journal of cellular and molecular medicine
When blue turns to grey: do stress and depression accelerate cell aging?
The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry
Neurosteroid regulation of central nervous system development.
Pharmacology & therapeutics
Endogenous and synthetic neurosteroids in treatment of Niemann-Pick Type C disease.
Brain research reviews
Translin coactivates steroidogenic factor-1-stimulated transcription.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Pregnane X receptor (PXR) activation: a mechanism for neuroprotection in a mouse model of Niemann-Pick C disease.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DNA sequence-dependent regulation of SF-1-mediated transcription.
DNA and cell biology
Niemann pick type C disease as a model for defects in neurosteroidogenesis.
Endocrine research
Niemann-Pick type C disease involves disrupted neurosteroidogenesis and responds to allopregnanolone.
Nature medicine
Deletion of the mouse P450c17 gene causes early embryonic lethality.
Molecular and cellular biology
The Endocrine Society Ethics Advisory Committee: ethical aspects of conflicts of interests, October 2003.
Endocrinology
Molecular mechanism of suppression of testicular steroidogenesis by proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha.
Molecular and cellular biology
Transcriptional regulation of P450scc gene expression in the embryonic rodent nervous system.
Endocrinology
Protein phosphatase 2A and phosphoprotein SET regulate androgen production by P450c17.
The Journal of biological chemistry
Synthesis, regulation, and function of neurosteroids.
Endocrine research
Neurosteroids: biochemistry and clinical significance.
Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM
Biosynthesis and action of neurosteroids.
Brain research. Brain research reviews
Biosynthesis of the neurosteroid 3 alpha-hydroxy-4-pregnen-20-one (3 alpha hp), a specific inhibitor of FSH release.
Endocrinology
Developmental gonadal expression of the transcription factor SET and its target gene, P450c17 (17alpha-hydroxylase/c17,20 lyase).
DNA and cell biology
Regulation of uterine gamma-aminobutyric acid(A) receptor subunit expression throughout pregnancy.
Endocrinology
Biosynthesis of neurosteroids and regulation of their synthesis.
International review of neurobiology
Current perspectives on the role of neurosteroids in PMS and depression.
International review of neurobiology
Modulation of steroidogenesis by selenium in a novel adrenal cell line developed using targeted tumorigenesis.
BioFactors (Oxford, England)
Opposing early inhibitory and late stimulatory effects of insulin-like growth factor-I on myogenin gene transcription.
Journal of cellular biochemistry
Novel role for the nuclear phosphoprotein SET in transcriptional activation of P450c17 and initiation of neurosteroidogenesis.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Autocrine and paracrine Müllerian inhibiting substance hormone signaling in reproduction.
Recent progress in hormone research
Neurosteroids: biosynthesis and function of these novel neuromodulators.
Frontiers in neuroendocrinology
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors directly alter activity of neurosteroidogenic enzymes.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Ku autoimmune antigen is involved in placental regulation of rat P450c17 gene transcription.
DNA and cell biology
Orphan receptors, proto-oncogenes and other nuclear factors regulate P450C17 gene transcription.
Endocrine research
25-Hydroxycholesterol is not a ligand for the orphan nuclear receptor steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1).
Endocrinology
Dehydroepiandrosterone: a potential signalling molecule for neocortical organization during development.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Polyribonucleotide phosphorylase is a double-stranded DNA-binding protein.
DNA and cell biology
Expression of steroid sulfatase during embryogenesis.
Endocrinology
Multiple orphan nuclear receptors converge to regulate rat P450c17 gene transcription: novel mechanisms for orphan nuclear receptor action.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Enzymatic properties of transplanted glomerulosa cells.
World journal of surgery
Cytochrome P450 17 alpha-hydroxylase gene expression in differentiating rat trophoblast cells.
The Journal of endocrinology
Expression of the gene for cytochrome P-450 17 alpha-hydroxylase/C17-20 lyase (CYP17) in porcine Leydig cells: identification of a DNA sequence that mediates cAMP response.
Biochimica et biophysica acta
The orphan nuclear receptor steroidogenic factor-1 regulates the cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate-mediated transcriptional activation of rat cytochrome P450c17 (17 alpha-hydroxylase/c17-20 lyase).
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Transcriptional regulation of P450scc gene expression in neural and steroidogenic cells: implications for regulation of neurosteroidogenesis.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Targeted ablation of pituitary pre-proopiomelanocortin cells by herpes simplex virus-1 thymidine kinase differentially regulates mRNAs encoding the adrenocorticotropin receptor and aldosterone synthase in the mouse adrenal gland.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Molecular variants in the P450c11AS gene as determinants of aldosterone synthase activity in the Dahl rat model of hypertension.
The Journal of biological chemistry
Chronic dexamethasone treatment suppresses hypertension development in the transgenic rat TGR(mREN2)27.
Journal of hypertension
Expression of the steroidogenic enzyme P450scc in the central and peripheral nervous systems during rodent embryogenesis.
Endocrinology
Artificial mutations in P450c11AS (aldosterone synthase) can increase enzymatic activity: a model for low-renin hypertension?
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
P450c11B3 mRNA, transcribed from a third P450c11 gene, is expressed in a tissue-specific, developmentally, and hormonally regulated fashion in the rodent adrenal and encodes a protein with both 11-hydroxylase and 18-hydroxylase activities.
The Journal of biological chemistry
Prenatal diagnosis of congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia.
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
Rodent models for studying steroids and hypertension: from fetal development to cells in culture.
Steroids
Neurosteroids: biochemistry, modes of action, and clinical relevance.
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
Role of adrenal renin in the regulation of adrenal steroidogenesis by corticotropin.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Steroidogenic adrenocortical cell lines produced by genetically targeted tumorigenesis in transgenic mice.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Neurosteroid biosynthesis: genes for adrenal steroidogenic enzymes are expressed in the brain.
Brain research
Tenascin-X: a novel extracellular matrix protein encoded by the human XB gene overlapping P450c21B.
The Journal of cell biology
Mitogenic action, regulation, and localization of insulin-like growth factors in the human fetal adrenal gland.
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
Basic fibroblast growth factor expression is regulated by corticotropin in the human fetal adrenal: a model for adrenal growth regulation.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Expression and regulation of adrenodoxin and P450scc mRNA in rodent tissues.
DNA and cell biology
Zone-specific regulation of two messenger RNAs for P450c11 in the adrenals of pregnant and nonpregnant rats.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Human proopiomelanocortin-(79-96), a proposed androgen stimulatory hormone, does not affect steroidogenesis in cultured human fetal adrenal cells.
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
Tissue-specific, cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate-induced, and phorbol ester-repressed transcription from the human P450c17 promoter in mouse cells.
Molecular endocrinology (Baltimore, Md.)
Effect of extracellular matrix on prolactin secretion and mRNA accumulation in GH3 cells.
DNA and cell biology
Extraadrenal steroid 21-hydroxylation is not mediated by P450c21.
The Journal of clinical investigation
cAMP regulates P450scc gene expression by a cycloheximide-insensitive mechanism in cultured mouse Leydig MA-10 cells.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Cell-specific expression of transfected brain identifier repetitive DNAs.
Nucleic acids research
In situ hybridization identifies renin mRNA in the rat corpus luteum.
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology
Interaction of a tissue-specific factor with an essential rat growth hormone gene promoter element.
Molecular and cellular biology
Analysis by immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization of renin and its mRNA in kidney, testis, adrenal, and pituitary of the rat.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
An approach to the molecular biology of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Expression and hormonal regulation of the rat growth hormone gene in transfected mouse L cells.
DNA (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.)
Growth hormone gene transcription is regulated by thyroid and glucocorticoid hormones in cultured rat pituitary tumor cells.
The Journal of biological chemistry