SOAT1 and Anxiety: BDNF is also implicated in stress-related phenotypes, which given its role in brain-based gene regulation, has implications for shared mechanisms of other stress-related conditions, such as depression and anxiety.58GDNF is a protein coding gene specifically associated with SCI and is also involved in the RAF/MAP kinase cascade super pathway that, like JAK-STAT, regulates cellular processes related to differentiation, survival, senescence, and cell movement.