New approach to mental health: Your genes

By Lee Zion  -  January 23, 2018

Russell Amato speaks Tuesday about using genetic information to treat mental health issues.

There are drugs to treat anxiety — but they don’t work in 40 percent of patients.

For depression, the figures are even worse — 63 percent of patients. And for bipolar disorder, the drugs don’t work in three-quarters of all the patients.

HI St. Alexius Health Williston held a lunchtime talk Tuesday to discuss a promising treatment — looking at the patient’s genetic makeup to find what drugs might work.

Deb Lukenbill, psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, said she first began doing this work in 2011.

“The results are pretty encouraging. We improved treatment. We’re able to look at what might be able to work better for the clients, and that’s been, probably, one of the biggest pluses,” she said.

Genetic testing can help with a wide variety of mental issues, including alcohol addiction, cocaine addiction, depression, anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder and more, Lukenbill said.

Lukenbill introduced Russell Amato, medical science liaison for Genomind. Lukenbill said Amato had a strong background in genetics, psychiatric diseases and addiction.

Amato described the technology. The patient receives a cheek swab to collect a few cells from inside the mouth. Those cells are then sent off to the laboratory and examined for mutations.

Most of these mutations don’t do much of anything, he said.

“There are mutations in your DNA right now, each and every one of you. We actually develop 60 new mutations every generation, and so there are thousands of these things all over,” Amato said.

But in some cases, a mutation might affect, for example, serotonin, a chemical in the brain. If the serotonin isn’t working properly, than neither will Prozac, a drug that treats depression by working with serotonin.

That’s not the only example. Some children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, get better when given Adderall or Ritalin. Some get worse, Amato said.

“Same thing for anxiety. Same thing for bipolar disorder. These patients are not responding to these medications, and we want to help you figure out why,” he said.

The lab tests provide a genetic profile that doctors can then use to determine which drugs will work and which won’t. It also lists possible side effects — for example, weight gain — that might affect some patients and not others, Amato said.

Yet another test checks enzymes in the body. In some patients, the body’s enzymes might not be able to break the drug down, so it stays in the body for far longer than it should, causing serious side effects. In other patients, the enzymes break the drug down so quickly that it never gets a chance to do what it was supposed to, he said.

Amato also said his company plans to debut a new test in February. This one will recommend a variety of behavior and diet changes to help stave off a wide variety of serious problems, including migraines, celiac disease, immune issues, Parkinson’s disease and other problems.

The lunchtime talk Tuesday was part of the hospital’s “Lunch & Learn” series. These talks are held roughly once every other month to discuss medical issues of interest to the community.

http://www.willistonherald.com/news/new-approach-to-mental-health-your-genes/article_bc6cbe4e-00a3-11e8-a21f-a77b2e48a910.html