GENETICS OF TREATMENT RESPONSE IN DEPRESSION: FINDINGS FROM A EUROPEAN MULTI-CENTRE COLLABORATIVE STUDY

Aim of this paper is to present in a cumulative manner the published results of genetic studies on Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) conducted by a European multicentre consortium organised by the Group for the Study of Resistant Depression (GSRD) (group leader: Prof Mendlewicz), in the context of two consecutive projects, "Patterns of treatment resistance and switching strategies in unipolar affective disorders" and "A naturalistic study of the efficacy and safety of escitalopram in treatment resistant depression A European Collaborative study". Within the first of these projects, 702 patients with unipolar major depression were recruited at 4 centres in 3 countries; 356 of those were found to be treatment resistant. Based on the genetic analysis, while some SNPs (specific alleles, genotypes or haplotypes) within CREB1, BDNF and COMT genes were found to be relatively weakly associated with treatment outcomes, the genes for GRIK4, GNB3, PTGS2, DTNBP1, serotonin receptors and P450 isoenzymes were not correlated with response to treatment. Further studies in large samples are needed for the replication of findings in pharmacogenetic studies of antidepressants.