Major advancement in understanding the genetic architecture of depression has been achieved primarily via genome-wide association studies (GWAS) led by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). In 2021, GWAS results from the PGC12, UK Biobank (UKB)14,21, FinnGen24 and 23andMe, Inc.24 were combined with data from the Million Veteran Program (MVP) in a large meta-analysis25, identifying 178 risk loci. The identified loci explain a small fraction of the overall heritability of depression12,21,25 and even larger GWASs are needed to further elucidate genetic factors contributing to the risk of developing depression and advance genetically informed patient stratification and outcome prediction towards clinical utility.
