Use of mirtazapine to improve the treatment of people with severe depression who are carriers of the apolipoprotein E4 gene.

摘要

This invention relates to methods for improving the treatment of major depression in a human patient by genotyping the patient for the gene for apolipoprotein E4 and adapting the further treatment of the patient accordingly depending on the presence or absence of the gene in the patient. The invention also relates to methods for improving the therapeutic response of human patients with major depression by determining the apolipoprotein E genotype of a human patient and administering a noradrenergic transmission enhancing anti-depressant drug, such as mirtazapine, in an amount effective to treat major depression, to those patients who are found to carry the gene for apolipoprotein E4. Also disclosed are methods for improving the therapeutic response of a human patient with major depression comprising administering mirtazapine, in an amount effective to treat major depression, to a human patient who is a carrier of the gene for apolipoprotein E4.