The AP (8/1, Ritter) reports, “In a key advance for the study of depression, a comprehensive scan of human DNA has turned up the apparent hiding places of more than a dozen genes linked to the disorder.” Investigators “identified 15 areas of the human DNA…that show signs of harboring genetic variations that affect risk of becoming depressed.”
The Washington Post (8/1, Cha) “To Your Health” blog reports that while “gene association studies…are published” frequently, “this is a particularly important one,” as “it’s the first large study on major depressive disorder in people of European descent, and it shows that the genes that may be involved in the condition correspond to those involved in the development of neurons in the brain.” The research, “published in Nature Genetics, involved an analysis of genetic variations of 75,607 people of European ancestry who self-reported having depression and 231,747 healthy controls.”
Related Links:
— “Large DNA study using 23andMe data finds 15 sites linked to depression,” Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, August 1, 2016.