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In a huge breakthrough for the treatment of mental illness, scientists have revealed that depression can be detected by biomarkers in the blood.

Many depressive conditions are caused by a lack of serotonin, or the "happiness hormone", in the brain. And now scientists from the Medical University of Vienna have shown that by analysing the blood levels of serotonin transporter (SERT), a protein essential of the transport of serotonin into brain cells, it's theoretically possible to detect whether someone is suffering from depression.

These SERT proteins are found in large quantitates in the blood and other organs, and the scientists found that there is a close relationship between the speed of serotonin uptake in blood platelets and the function of the 'depression network' in the brain.

Study leader Luke Pezawas explained in a press release: “This is the first study that has been able to predict the activity of a major depression network in the brain using a blood test."

Even better, the research, which is published in PLoS One, is the first to indicate the concept is even possible.

"While blood tests for mental illnesses have until recently been regarded as impossible, this study clearly shows that a blood test is possible in principle for diagnosing depression and could become reality in the not too distant future," Pezawas adds.