Therefore, we could not include other peripheral blood compounds that are often associated with schizophrenia (e.g. nerve growth factor (NGF), IL-8 and insulin) (Çakici et al., 2020; Upthegrove et al., 2014) or MDD (e.g. soluble IL-2 receptor, NGF and vascular endothelial growth factor) (Çakici et al., 2020; Kohler et al., 2017). Here, VEGFA is linked to major depressive disorder.