Advancing Personalised Medicine for Anorexia Nervosa: A companion Biomarker-Target Approach

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an under-researched, high burden eating disorder that severely impacts on lifelong health and quality of life.

The only validated therapeutic approach is extremely resource intensive - re-nutrition combined with intense psychotherapy. Even with sufficient therapy, response rates are only ~50%. Consequently, mortality rates are the highest of any psychiatric disorder, often due to suicide.

Personalised biology-driven clinical management is not available due to the lack of validation research for biological targets.

In this multidisciplinary transnational collaboration (BIOREXIA), we aim to provide biomarkers to tailor specific treatments and define the intensity of treatment, advancing a personalised medicine approach.

We will validate companion biomarker linked therapeutic targets (e.g., leptin and ghrelin signalling) in clinical cohorts and advanced rodent models of AN.

Blood-derived biomarkers, combined with those linked to specific neuroimaging measures, have potential to stratify patients after their first treatment episode into those that have increased risk for relapse and chronic severity and who need more intense treatment.

These results will enhance AN healthcare pathways by stratifying individuals with AN into categories for personalised treatment and thus improve patient and caregiver outcomes, reduce societal burden and contribute to sustainable healthcare systems.