To be able to detect the gene of suicide to avoid the worst, this is the bet that researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in the United States, have decided to take up. “Suicide is a major and preventable public health problem, but our efforts to prevent it have always been thwarted by the impossibility of predicting who is at risk of ending their life”, explains doctor Zachary Kaminsky, one of the authors of the study, “we believe we will be able to screen blood to identify people at risk of suicide.”
Indeed, scientists have managed to identify an under-expressed gene, SKA2, in the blood of suicidal people. In a study published by the journal American Journal of Psychiatrythey explain that they can spot this gene with a simple blood test.
Reduce the suicide rate
Normally, SKA2 manages stress hormone receptors. But in people with suicidal tendencies, it is very weakly expressed, even slightly altered, which prevents it from functioning normally.
This mutation leaves traces in the blood, identifiable via the test developed by American researchers, whose accuracy has reached 80% in adults and up to 96% in younger patients. More studies are needed, but Dr. Kaminsky has hope. “With a test like ours, we may be able to reduce suicide rates by identifying those at risk, and intervening early enough to avert catastrophe,” he hopes.