Signature Response to Light Therapy in Unipolar and Bipolar Major Depressive Episode (MDE)

Starting soon · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Major Depressive Episode

In brief

Major depressive episode (MDE) are severe and common psychiatric disorders that affect up to 20% of the general population. MDE cause a decrease in psychosocial functioning, quality of life, and is associated with a high rate of suicides. They will be the leading cause of disability by 2030 according to the World Health Organization. The international effort carried out to identify biomarkers of MDE has been hampered by the heterogenous nature of MDE (unipolar, bipolar, seasonal, non-seasonal) and their heterogeneous response to treatment. Response rate to antidepressant drugs is only 40 to 50%, leading to the use of drug combinations and development of alternative therapeutics such as light therapy (LT). It was demonstrated that LT, as a first line treatment of MDE with and without seasonal pattern (± SP), has comparable efficacy to antidepressants. LT has the advantage of being also effective in improving both sleep, alertness and circadian rhythms, which may be altered in depression, contrary to antidepressant drugs that target mainly mood. Further research is warranted to determine the most efficient lighting parameters to use depending on depression characteristics, as well as to identify signature biomarkers of response. Besides, no studies have directly evaluated both subjective and objective biomarkers of sleep, wake, biological rhythms, and light signalling pathways and activation in patients with MDE ± SP. The main objective of the research will be to identify the signature of response to LT examining the correlation between the measures of biological and clinical parameters before LT and their evolution at the end of the procedure, and the therapeutic response. The primary endpoint of the study will be the therapeutic response to LT measured by the difference of MADRS score between Visit 1 and Visit 4 (end of the therapeutic protocol). Therapeutic response to LT considered as a success will be defined as at least a 50% reduction of MADRS score between the two visits.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07462637

Run by

Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris

People needed

173

Starts

2026-03-01

Expected to finish

2029-05-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-03-10

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 65. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Adults between 18 and 65 years old
• Patients with a diagnosis of MDE as part of a unipolar or bipolar disorder (DSM-5 TR criteria)
• Patients with a clinician-rated MADRS score ≥ 20 indicating a moderate to severe depressive symptoms with a prescription of LT for MDE treatment
• For patients with bipolar disorder type 1: With prophylactic mood stabilizer treatment at an effective dose (standardized and at a preventive dose for manic episode prevention) and stable for at least 4 weeks (background treatment for bipolar disorder): Lithium (Téralithe® LP 400 or 250) or Sodium Valproate (Dépakote® 500) or Atypical antipsychotics (also known as second-generation antipsychotics), defined as follows and dosed prior to inclusion in the month preceding:
• For Lithium, controlled by serum lithium level, >0.5 mEq/L for Téralithe 250 and > 0.7 mEq/L for Téralithe LP 400 ; for Sodium Valproate, controlled by serum sodium divalproate level >40mg/L
• For antipsychotics, only the following molecules will be accepted at the indicated dosages, as they have marketing authorization in France as prophylactic mood stabilizers for manic episode prevention in bipolar disorder: Quétiapine (≥150-800mg), Aripiprazole (≥ 15-30mg), Olanzapine (≥ 10-20mg)
• Patients for whom light therapy is prescribed
• Patients able to understand French.
• Patients able to sign informed consent.

You may not qualify if…

• Patients with a DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia, suffering from paranoid or delusional disorders, any other psychotic features or other nonstabilized mental disorders
• Patients with other antidepressant strategies than LT or mood stabiliser initiated in the month prior to inclusion
• Patients with a therapeutic resistance of current MDE (lack of response to ≥2 antidepressants of 2 different classes at therapeutic doses for >6 weeks)
• Patients with a LT used in the last 1 month
• Patient with ophtalmic pathologies (cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, severe myopia > 6D, etc.) or diseases affecting the retina (retinitis pigmentosa, diabetes, herpes, hereditary retinal disorders etc.).
• Patient with photosensitive epilepsy
• Patients with a C-SSRS score ≥ 4
• For the MRI group, patient presenting one or several MRI contrindications
• Shiftwork or self-imposed irregular sleep schedule within the last months
• Travel acrosss 2 time-zones during the last month prior to participation
• Pregnant or breastfeeding women
• Subject under guardianship or deprived of liberty
• Participation ton another interventional study
• Healthy volonteers :
• Inclusion criteria :
• Adults between 18 and 65
• Without any significant psychiatric history or current psychotropic medication
• Able to understand French
• Able to sign informed consent
• Exclusion criteria :
• Contra-indications to MRI (claustrophobia, metallic or material implants)
• History of severe head injury
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding woman
• Inability to understand information about the study
• Persons deprived of their liberty by judicial or administrative decision

Where it is running

• Bichat - Claude-Bernard Hospital — Paris, France

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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