Wanted: Prozac Gene!
Whilst there are persons who suffer from depressions and take Prozac to aid their affections, there are people who do not get positive effects from this medication. There are cases in which ill people experience harmful effects from the Prozac such as strange perceived reality disorders or sudden fierceness states. Medical investigators and scientists still do not know why this type of medication works wonders on some patients whereas in others produces bizarre side-effects.
In order to provide evidence for this variety of effects from Prozac`s behalf, the scientists from the Tel Aviv University state that the answer is located in the genes of the person who takes this antidepressant medication. If this belief proves to be accurate, the investigators could be enabled to develop a rather simplified test for the genetic information of the patient in order for fellow psychiatrists to design a more efficient therapy against depressions.
The research regarding the so called “Prozac gene” aims at shedding light about the gene`s creation. This investigation is helped by a very unique bio-bank from the Tel Aviv University`s Sackler School of Medicine. The person who enabled the foundation of this project is doctor David Gurwitz, the director of the unique bio-bank. Aiding him in the investigation is student Ayelet Morag. The scientists strive to find accurate pharmacogenic developers for antidepressant medication class which comprises also Prozac.
As the leading investigator states the market is saturated with medications against depression and a competing edge of this drug is held by Prozac. Its class of drugs represents SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). However, these medications provide positive effects only in approximately 60% of the patients that take them. As doctor David Gurwitz believes medication coming from a different antidepressant class could provide positive effects for the remaining 40% of the population undergoing anti-depression treatments. The investigator also states that the research is trying to transform the traditional approach of trial and error to a better one in which the doctors would be able to provide to their patients the proper medication for their individual needs and symptoms.
Doctor David Gurwitz believes that the base of this individualized treatment can be found in the human genes. In order to discover the mechanisms behind this approach, the investigators need to, firstly, find the important bio-creators such as the biological agents that are in the blood or in the DNA in order to gather more information about a certain health condition and illness. Some of these biomarkers comprise the hormones that are triggered by pregnancy, the level of glucose in the blood in patients suffering from diabetes and the pressure of the blood in people suffering from heart conditions.
Doctors have begun to take into account the genetic tests in recommending the therapies for their patients. This strategy has triggered positive effects in the cases of patients suffering from breast cancer. In their case, medications such as Herceptin and Tamoxifen are recommended as treatments only after the patients underwent genetic testing and proved that they will benefit from this treatment.
Taking a closer look at the positive outcomes deriving from genetic testing, David Gurwitz states that the same approach should be used in the case of people suffering from depression. In order to support his beliefs, the doctor developed an experiment that could scan the genes for factors which would show if a certain patient would benefit or not from a specific drug like Prozac, for example.
The investigators are prone to verify the profiles of the genome gene`s expression coming from the cell lines found in persons who are not sick. Being well aware of the fact that Prozac and antidepressant drugs similar to it determine a stagnation in the development of the blood cells, investigators screen a very big sample of cell lines in order to find out which of the lines present the lowest and the highest development influence from the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, class of medication which comprises Prozac, as well. The cell lines which present these two influence extremes are going to be further screened over the whole human genome in order to discover which is the best genetic creator that deals very good with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
The leading investigator of this study states that between the bio-bank`s 25,000 human genes, approximately few hundred are going to present this difference of the response extremes in the cell lines.
In the second stage of the research, the team of scientists desire to verify which of the already found extreme-response cell lines would prove to be important bio-creators for the reaction to Prozac treatment. In addition, the psychiatrists can also undergo this stage on their patients in order to gather more knowledge in this matter.
David Gurwitz states that their investigation manner is unique in the way that it is not based on certain hypothesis. He states that early studies undergone on Prozac treatments in order to explore the reaction of the bio-creators only took into consideration the genes that were associated with the way the brain metabolizes the serotonin, which is thought to be one of the leading causes of depression. This way of thinking and acting proved to be not accurate since the investigators discovered the need to look at the big picture, meaning that they have to explore the all the genes found in the human body.
The leading author states that the psychiatric medications are still an unknown ground due to the fact that doctors still do not know the persons` reactions in treatments with Prozac and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors since there are patients that respond better to other anti-depression drugs class.
The World Health Organization claims that by 2020 the costs incurred by and the decrease of productivity caused by depression are going to be far above those for cardiovascular illnesses. The cardiovascular sufferings account for the major spending in the well developed states. The researchers hope to develop an accurate testing means for identifying the patients` response in using anti-depression medication in order to assure a proper therapy.
