Crowd-sourced data have revealed genes connected to depression. | Courtesy of Shutterstock
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Amanda Rupp | Aug 10, 2016

Crowd-sourced data reveal depression genes

The National Institutes of Health recently financed a crowd-sourced study that revealed 15 new genome sites that are connected to depression in people with European ancestry.

Many health professionals believe that a certain amount of depression is genetic and can be inherited, but this study proves that some genomes appear connected to depression. Most of these regions are also connected to regulating gene expression as well as creating new neurons as the brain develops.

This milestone study did not require the scientists to sequence genes from anyone. Rather, they gathered data that people shared when they bought their genetic profiles from an online service. Subjects chose to join the research option for this study.

With these resources, the researchers used statistical advantages from a large sample size, finding weak genetic signals that were connected to a diagnosis traced through several underlying illness processes.

“We hope these findings help people understand that depression is a brain disease, with its own biology,” Dr. Roy Perlis, of Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital, said. “Now comes the hard work of using these new insights to try to develop better treatments.”

This is an innovative use of crowd-source information. After gathering the information, Perlis confirmed the data using traditional genetics methods with the NIH.

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