SNP BIOMARKERS FOR DETERMINING MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS AND PREDICTION OF PATIENT RESPONSE TO ANTI-DEPRESSANT THERAPY

SNP BIOMARKERS FOR DETERMINING MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS AND PREDICTION OF PATIENT RESPONSE TO ANTI-DEPRESSANT THERAPY

UCLA Technology Available For Licensing

BACKGROUND: Current approaches to treating major depressive disorder (MDD) are largely trial-and-error, where anti-depressant therapies are primarily based on minimizing side effects. Usually this approach takes months to determine whether the antidepressant therapies are working. Better diagnosis and prediction of treatment outcome would contribute to reducing the costs of caring for patients with MDD, which currently exceed $100 billion per year in the United States alone. Given the gene-environment interaction in MDD, genetic biomarkers would be particularly helpful, but none currently exist. Thus, there is a need for genetic biomarkers that could aid the diagnosis and prediction of treatment response in major depressive disorder.

INNOVATION: Researchers at UCLA have developed a genetically-based method to diagnose MDD. Using nucleic acid-containing cells procured from blood, saliva, or cell samples, the technology determines single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the haplotypes of a gene in a well-known family of enzymes. Statistical analysis of the SNPs has revealed distinct haplotypes that are strongly correlated with the diagnosis of MDD and antidepressant response. Specific gene variations could make individuals 2.1 times more likely to be in the depressed group; other variations could make individuals 0.6 times as likely to be in the depressed group. Specific gene variations can increase up to 4.6 times the odds of individuals attain remitter status in our study. In addition to the detection of the haplotypes from the nucleic acid sample, the innovation also provides the means to analyze the proteins or transcript isoforms associated with the disorder, which creates a method to assess the presence or absence of MDD and determine the response to a drug therapy.

ADVANTAGES

Advance screenings help determine an individual's susceptibility to major depressive disorder, improving therapeutic outcome through early intervention.
Patient response to anti-depressant therapy may be determined in a shorter amount of time thereby improving therapeutic outcome.
Decreased costs for medication since patient response may be determined quickly.

Related Papers (Selected)

Wong ML, Whelan F, Deloukas P, Whittaker P, Delgado M, Cantor RM, McCann SM, Licinio J. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Oct 10;103(41):15124-9. [more]

Reference: UCLA Case No. 2006-438 PCT Application: US/07/66562

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keywords: mdd, major depressive disorder, antidepressant, anti-depressant, biomarker, snp, snps, single nucleotide polymorphism, haplotype, diagnostics, research tools uclancd ucla technologies intellectual property patents technology transfer invention business card