Are some people hardwired to get the blues? Scientists have long believed that a tendency toward melancholy runs in families, much like dimpled chins and blue eyes. But the tricky part has been figuring out which genes are involved and how strongly they are correlated with a risk for developing depression.
A new study published on June 16 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) now threatens to send researchers back to the drawing board. The meta-analysis of 14 prior studies concludes that the so-called depression gene — a variant of a serotonin-transporter gene called 5-HTTLPR — may not be associated with an elevated risk for depression, as many researchers had believed. (more…)
