A study suggests that major mental disorders like autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, major depression, and schizophrenia, which were thought to be distinct, share certain genetic variations. This indicates potential genetic connections among these disorders. The study used data from genome-wide association studies to analyze over 33,000 patients with these disorders and found significant genetic variations associated with all five conditions. Specific genes related to calcium regulation in neurons, particularly CACNA1C and CACNB2, were linked to these disorders. Additionally, certain regions of chromosomes 3 and 10 were found to have illness-linked variations. While these genetic associations alone can't predict or diagnose these conditions, they could contribute to better diagnoses and a deeper understanding of the disorders' causes.
This is interesting as there are so many people that have to deal with these conditions and also so many that are undiagnosed since mental disorders are still societally taboo. The further understanding of such common disorder can be such a benefit to helping diagnose people dealing with the conditions earlier on in their lives by being able to identify these genetic markers.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting to see that there are genetic variations for each of the different mental disorders that were talked about. Being able to understand and know that there is a genetic factor for these disorders can really help people get treated with it.
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