Gene Variations May Imporve the Way Depression is Treated

One question that has puzzled doctors and researchers for years is why some patients respond very well to a treatment or medication and some do not, or at least not as well as the others do. The National Institute of Mental Health, which is a division of The National Institutes of Health has come up with an answer, at least in how it relates to depression and it has to do with a gene variation.

They found that a variation in the gene called GRIK4 seems to make people who suffer from depression more likely than not to get a good reaction when they take the medication Celexa than the people who do not have the variation. It was not much of a difference with just the one gene variation, but when they have this one as well as one in another gene that was used in a different study and had the same small difference, it jumped to a difference of 23%, which in studies like this is a significant difference Having one of the gene variations, you get a small improvement, both of them and it is very noticeable. If further research uncovers further gene variations, the percentage could go even higher.

They expect this to make a big difference in how patients with depression are treated. For instance, the medications used many take weeks to show some positive effect. Right not it is a guessing game as to which to use and if that does not work it is back to square one with a different medication. Now, they can do a genetic profile of the patient and if they have the gene variations, they know that there is an increased possibility that the medications will work. People who do not respond to one medication, have a greater chance of responding to the next one, but why wait weeks to find out when a simple genetic test can boost the chance of the first on working by almost 25%.