Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine say biomarkers (chemicals in blood) in the blood can help identify mood disorder. This discovery may help the medical community come up with better treatment for the conditions.

These biomarkers”may offer an unexpectedly informative window into brain functioning and disease state,” reported Alexander Niculescu III, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, medical neurobiology, and neuroscience at Indiana University’s medical school who led the study.

Bipolar disorder and other conditions such as depression are currently diagnosed based on the patient’s description of their symptoms and the physician’s judgment. This makes it difficult to get an accurate diagnosis or determine the severity of a patient’s condition.

Dr. Niculescu and his colleagues have shown that 10 genes that can be detected in the blood could provide a better way to assess a patient.

“Patients aren’t sure how ill they really are, and neither is the clinician – sometimes dismissing their symptoms, sometimes overestimating them. Having an objective test for disease state, disease severity, and especially to measure response to treatment, would be a big step forward,” Dr. Niculescu wrote in the study published Tuesday in the Journal Molecular Psychiatry.

However, Dr. Niculescu said more study is needed to confirm these findings, adding that tests could be available in as little as five years.

The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grant funding, NAESAD and funds from Eli Lilly and Co.