A genome-wide association study of escitalopram treatment outcomes in patients with major depressive disorder

• Published in: Gene 2024-10, Vol.926, p.148596, Article 148596
• Main Authors: Ren, Siyu, Peng, He, Zhang, Jinniu, Yang, Jian, He, Yi, Sun, Zuoli, Wang, Gang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: antidepressants; China; Escitalopram; genes; genetic polymorphism; Genome-wide association study; hospitals; inventories; Major depressive disorder; mental depression; neurodevelopment; neuroplasticity; remission; serotonin; suicide
• ISSN: 0378-1119; 1879-0038; 1879-0038
• DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2024.148596

•First GWAS study that specifically addresses escitalopram antidepressant efficacy.•Conduct the linear regression of scale to assess depressive states and gene loci.•BRCA genes contribute to the risk of MDD.•Synaptic plasticity is associated with response to escialopram. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychological condition, the consequences of which, such as suicide, can be severe. Escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, is a commonly used antidepressant in clinics. However, more than one-third of patients with MDD do not respond to this drug. Gene polymorphism may affect the efficacy of escitalopram, but the genetic architecture of the antidepressant response in patients with MDD remains unclear. We perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of the genetic effect on the outcome of escitalopram in patients with MDD. A total of 203 patients with MDD and 176 healthy control (HC) adults were recruited from Beijing Anding Hospital. Patients received 12 weeks of antidepressant treatment with escitalopram. The Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Report (QIDS-SR) or Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) were used to evaluate the severity of depression symptoms at the baseline and the end of 2 and 12 weeks of treatment. A total of 140 variants in MDD patients were identified by GWAS to have genome-wide significance (p