Breakthrough study identifies 44 genes linked to depression

Groundbreaking new research mapping out the genetic foundations of depression in unprecedented detail has raised hopes of finding more effective treatments for the mental disorder.

Researchers have identified 44 gene variants that increase the risk of developing depression, The Guardian reports. Of these variants, 30 have never been connected to the condition before, according to a paper published in journal Nature Genetics.

“By tripling the number of gene regions linked to depression, scientists now hope to understand more about why the disorder strikes some but not others, even when they have similar life experiences,” The Guardian says.

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The findings of the study, the largest ever carried out into the part played by DNA in depression, “could also help in the search for drugs to treat the condition, which affects as many as one in four people over a lifetime”.

Previous work on depression using twins as test subjects indicated that genetics account for about 40% of depression risk factor, while life experiences and biological factors make up the remaining 60%.

Professor of statistical genetics Cathryn Lewis, a senior author on the study at King’s College London, said: “If you have a lower genetic burden of depression, perhaps you are more resistant to the stresses we all experience in life.

“We know that thousands of genes are involved in depression, with each having a very modest effect on a person’s risk,” she added. “There is certainly no single gene for depression.”

Co-author Gerome Breen added that the discovery of the connection between gene variants and depression opens the door to a new generation of drugs.

“What we’ve had in recent decades is a shortage of new mechanisms that underlie depression and psychiatric disorders. The hope is that in new data we identify new processes that can be targeted by newly developed types of drugs, which have different mechanisms of action to existing medications,” Breen said.