Scientists have discovered a rogue gene which they believe causes depression -- a finding they say could eventually lead to the development of better treatments for the disorder.
Researchers from Kings College London working with a team from the US have pinpointed a section of DNA which they believe is responsible for depression.
This particular region -- known as chromosome 3p25-26 – contains up to 40 genes, and one or more probably causes the condition which is notoriously difficult to manage, the Daily Mail reported.
Over the next year the team hopes to carry out more work to try and pinpoint exactly which gene is responsible.
Though depression is often triggered by traumatic events -- such as grief, redundancy or divorce -- scientists have long known that certain people are more susceptible.
In the study, the researchers examined the DNA of more than 800 British families with two or more siblings with depression.
At the same time, another team of scientists from the Washington University Medical School in St Louis, the US, looked at 91 families in Australia and 25 families in Finland.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, showed that the depressed siblings had the same genetic variations in the same section of their DNA. This would suggest that depression runs in families, with people inheriting the genes from their parents, the researchers said.
Lead author Gerome Breen, from the Institute of Psychiatry in Kings College London, said "In a large number of families where two or more members have depression we found robust evidence that a region called chromosome 3p25-26 is strongly linked to the disorder.
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