Huge haul of ‘depression genes’ shows it’s a complex condition

An analysis of more than 135,000 people with depression has pinpointed 44 genetic variants that are linked to the condition, 30 of which have never been identified before.

Depression affects around 14 per cent of people worldwide, but only around half of patients respond well to existing treatments.

To better understand how genes may play a role in depression, the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium – an international team involving more than 200 researchers – compared data from more than 135,000 people with depression with nearly 345,000 people who don’t have the condition.

The analysis identified 44 variants that are associated with an elevated likelihood of having depression, some of which are also linked to other psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia.

“The new genetic variants discovered have the potential to revitalise depression treatment by opening up avenues for the discovery of new and improved therapies,” says Gerome Breen, at King’s College London, who worked on the analysis.

However, it is unclear how some of these genes affect depression, and finding a single treatment that can target all these variants is unlikely. Work published earlier this year suggests that a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, involve changes in brain cell function. In particular, inflammation seems to play a role in depression, prompting interest in whether anti-inflammatory drugs may help treat it.

Read more: Could an inflamed brain be a hidden cause of depression?