A new study has found significant associations between certain genes and depression – the first time such an association has been reported in individuals of European descent.
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Experts know depression can run in families but most previous genetic studies have been unable to identify mutations influencing the risk.
The team used data available online – the genetic profiles of more than 450,000 people, shared voluntarily for purposes of exactly such research.
After evaluation of the data, the researchers found 15 regions of the DNA that were particularly associated with increased risk of depression.
“We hope these findings help people understand that depression is a brain disease, with it’s own biology, and will decrease the stigma still associated with these kinds of illnesses”, he added. “Depression is about biology and I think that will be helpful for some people in reducing stigma and changing how we think about depression”. Some of these genes had previously been associated with other psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, but never with depression.
But Jonathan Flint of the University of California in Los Angeles, noted the people in the study had themselves reported their depression history, rather than providing a formal medical record. “With this paper alone we cannot explain very much about depression but it is the first really substantial and valid genetic hits and now we can go in and look at these hits, look at connected hits and really start to understand the disease”, she said. “The reason this kind of genetics is important is it points us towards a biology of disease”, he said.
These regions may contain genes that increase the risk of depression, said the researchers, although the study does not prove these genes cause depression. However, she believes the new results could help researchers probe how genetic and environmental risk factors are connected.
The study obtained the samples from customers of the genomic company 23andMe.
Many treat the illness with antidepressants.
Roy Perlis, M.D., M.SC., of Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital – a grantee of the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) – and colleagues from industry, report on their findings August 1, 2016 in the journal Nature Genetics.
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An associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Perlis said, “The neurotransmitter-based models we are now using to treat depression are more than 40 years old, and we really need new treatment targets”.
