The causes of depression have not been fully identified but scientists acknowledge that genetic and environmental factors play a role in the onset of the disorder. One of the environmental risk factors more often related to depression is exposure to threatening life events. From a genetic point of view, the serotonin transporter gene, with its crucial role in communication between neurons, could also predispose people to depression.

An international group of scientists, headed by professors Jorge Cervilla Ballesteros and Blanca Gutiérrez Martínez, from University of Granada, has recently published the study PREDICT-gene, confirming the relationship between alleles in the serotonin transporter gene and exposure to threatening life events in the onset of depression.



The study used a Spanish sample accounting for gender, age and family history of psychiatric disorders. It found that 24% of the sample, people with the s/s genotype, needed minimal exposure to threatening life events to cause depression, unlike individuals with s/l or l/l genotypes, thus confirming the relationship between genetic and environmental factors in this mental disorder.

The most important consequence of research on interaction between genetic and environmental factors is that scientists will be able to produce measures to predict response to antidepressants taking into account each individual’s genotype, i. e. they will be able to design tailor-made drugs according to each person’s genetic configuration and their exposure to environmental factors.

The research group is currently working to open roads for psycho-pharmaco-genetics, a field that will allow for individual treatments and tailor-made drugs.

The study is framed in the international project PREDICT and is funded by the European Union and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.

Source: University of Granada