Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on May 16, 2011
Emerging research suggests a DNA region on chromosome 3 is related to depression.
Two independent studies, one from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the other from King’s College London, identify a DNA region containing up to 90 genes. Both studies are published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Major depression affects approximately 20 percent of people at some point during their lives, and family studies have long suggested that depression risk is influenced by genetics.
“What’s remarkable is that both groups found exactly the same region in two separate studies,†said senior investigator Pamela A. F. Madden, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry at Washington University. “We were working independently and not collaborating on any level, but as we looked for ways to replicate our findings, the group in London contacted us to say, ‘We have the same linkage peak, and it’s significant.”
Madden and the other researchers believe it is likely that many genes are involved in depression. While the new findings won’t benefit patients immediately, the discovery is an important step toward understanding what may be happening at the genetic and molecular levels, she says.
Read in Full:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/05/16/genetic-region-for-depression-identified/26207.html
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