article_snippet: (CNN)Could a simple blood test someday tell if you're genetically predisposed to post-traumatic stress disorder?
article_snippet: That's what a team of international researchers is hoping after finding a genetic marker linked to PTSD in the blood samples of Marines stationed in conflict zones.
article_snippet: We'll draw the blood and have a way to do this very rapidly and start to tease apart who is a little more at risk and who is a little more resilient for PTSD," says principal investigator Dr. Dewleen Baker of the University of California-San Diego.
article_snippet: PTSD can occur after many types of trauma: rape, torture, child abuse, natural disasters and car, plane, and train wrecks, to name a few.
article_snippet: But why does severe emotional trauma trigger PTSD in some people and not others?
article_snippet: The idea that your genes play a role in whether you develop PTSD is a popular focus of recent research.
article_snippet: An unusual avenue of research is how our immune systems may contribute to the development of PTSD symptoms.
article_snippet: Prior studies of people diagnosed with PTSD compared to control groups without the disorder suggest differences in genes related to inflammation may play a role.
article_snippet: The recent study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, is unique because The recent study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry compares blood samples from 188 Marines taken before and after Marines were deployed to combat zones.
article_snippet: Another group of 96 Marines was also studied to verify the results.
article_snippet: Under this experimental design, not only can we identify differences between U.S. Marines with PTSD and without, but we can go back in time, so to speak, to see if any of the Marines who eventually developed PTSD" showed evidence that it would emerge, says the study's co-senior author, Christopher Woelk.
article_snippet: In the blood of U.S. Marines ultimately diagnosed with PTSD, the study found biomarkers associated with gene networks that regulate innate immune function -- the body's first line of defense -- and interferon, a protein responsible for kicking the immune system into action.
article_snippet: You could try to dampen down the activation and see if that improves symptoms or prevents development of PTSD," says Baker.