Vive la « science »

La science « américaine » n'arrète pas le progrès. On connaissait quelques uns de ses beaux délires pas piqués des vers, dont le gène de l'homosexualité. En feuillant le canard de l'AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Science du mois mars, je viens de tomber sur une autre assez goûteuse , concernant la réceptivité des patients aux psychotropes type Prozac (SSRIs, inhibiteurs spécifiques du recaptage de la sérotonine), en fonction de... devinez quoi ? Leur couleur de peau. Si, si, allez, un pour la route (je grasse) :

By Constance Holden Only about two-thirds of depressed people feel better from taking antidepressant medication. Currently, doctors have no way of knowing who is likely to benefit from what drug. But now researchers have identified a gene variant that appears to enhance the odds of benefiting from antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). It's "a step on the road to true personalized medicine," says co-author Dennis Charney, psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. The findings could also help explain why blacks appear to respond less than whites to antidepressants, says the lead author, psychiatrist Francis McMahon of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The beneficial gene variant--for a type of serotonin receptor--is far more common in whites than in blacks. McMahon and colleagues analyzed DNA samples from 1953 patients diagnosed with major depression who were being treated with the SSRI citalopram (Celexa). The patients were part of the largest-ever clinical trial for depression, called STAR*D. To scout out genes that might be associated with treatment response, they looked at 768 markers on 68 candidate genes. SSRIs act on the neurons that send out serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects many things including mood and circadian rhythms. These antidepressants, which often have fewer side effects than others, prevent transmitting preventing neurons from soaking up unused serotonin, thus giving the serotonin neurotransmitter more time in the synapse to exert an effect. SSRIs also indirectly down-regulate the 2A receptor on postsynaptic (receiving) neurons, which is also necessary for the drugs to work. © 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science (article complet accessible ici)

D'où :

This finding could help explain why blacks appear to have a poorer response than whites to antidepressants [...]. "This work presages a revolutionary future for psychiatry where choice of antidepressant treatment will be determined in part on an individual pattient's genotype." Science AAAS, Mars, Vol 3111, page 1843.

On croit rêver. À quand un psychotrope spécial « black » ?