More on being sad….
An interesting question for depression sufferers and their doctors is why antidepressants work for some people and not for others.
If someone is diagnosed with depression, and his or her doctor prescribes a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) such as Prozac or Zoloft, only about 2/3 of people respond to a given drug.
The doctor typically will then try another, and another, until the right one is found. Meanwhile, the patient has endured additional weeks of depression and expenses.
Findings from the University of Iowa shed a little light on why these drugs work for some people and not for others.
“The study focused on a gene associated with the availability of serotonin, a chemical that at low levels can affect mood and sleep. The researchers found that among people with a variation in this gene, women were more likely than men to have altered processes related to serotonin,” according to a press release on the study.
The results were based on genetic analysis and depression assessments for 192 individuals and appeared online Wednesday the American Journal of Medical Genetics.
“While the finding is exciting, the researchers caution that they have not found a ‘depression gene,’ as genes alone cannot cause behaviors,” the release continued.
Researchers investigated the function of SLC6A4, a serotonin transporter gene. They found that chemically turning off the gene’s function occurred more often in women with the variant than men with the variant.
“This means that in some women less gene expression resulted in less mRNA, which is the genetic material that helps a gene make a protein,” according to the release.
Genes don’t code for behavior. They allow production of proteins, which may or may not influence behavior, depending on their function.
“The gene variant we studied may make some people more prone to develop depression if they experience more stress or abuse — similar to how, if two people have a genetic risk for osteoporosis, the one who runs may be more likely than the one who swims to actually develop osteoporosis,” one researcher said.
Jeff Raymond, Medical Writer
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