"Genetics Of Depression Yielding Secrets, But Diagnostic Use Is Still A Ways Off" - Anne Breindl and Omar Ford
According to the Clarivate Analytics Incidence & Prevalence Database, the global prevalence of depression is a bit under five percent. Because depression is not a permanent condition, however, a person's lifetime risk of an episode of major depression is 15 percent. The adolescent depression rate is even higher. Antidepressants are one effective way to treat depression. But they are not effective for everyone. Roughly half of all patients do not respond to the first antidepressant that is prescribed to them, and the failure rates increase with each subsequent prescription. "All antidepressant drugs that are prescribed today essentially have the same mechanisms, with minor exceptions, to the ones that were discovered 60 years ago,” said Eric Nestler, MD, PhD, dean of academic and scientific affairs, director of the Friedman Brain Institute of Mount Sinai, and professor of neuroscience, pharmacological sciences and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. A recent study has shown that gene expression signatures associated with depression differed between men and women. Study lead, Dr. Nestler noted that the study's sample sizes were small, and need to be replicated in larger cohorts. But the findings suggest that one possible way to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in GWAS of depression is to analyze men and women separately.
- Eric Nestler, MD, PhD, Dean, Academic and Scientific Affairs, Director, Friedman Brain Institute, Professor, Neuroscience, Pharmacological Sciences, Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai