Possible Blood Test for Depression

clipped from www.reuters.com Protein discovery could lead to depression test CHICAGO (Reuters) - Changes in the location of a single protein in the brain could be used to tell whether a person with depression is responding to an antidepressant within days of taking the drug, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. People with depression now must wait weeks before they learn whether the drug they are taking will bring relief. But researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered that a single protein in the brain changes its location within a cell membrane when an antidepressant is working, and this change could be identified with a simple blood test. In people with depression, this protein is trapped in what Rasenick called a "lipid raft" inside the cell membrane. While stuck in this thick, gluey area of the cell, the signaling protein seemed less effective at directing the action of message-carrying chemicals.