5 Disorders Share Genetic Risk Factors, Study Finds

According to an article published in the New York Times, there are five psychiatric illnesses that share several genetic glitches, which are responsible for pushing the brain along a path toward mental illness. These psychiatric illnesses are bipolar disorder, autism, schizophrenia, major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There are other factors that also influence mental illness such as other genetic issues as well as environmental factors. 

This study began in 2007 and included 60,000 people worldwide. Of these 60,000 people who were involved with the study, 33,332 were affected by mental illness and 27,888 that were not. Researchers examined the DNA from each participant searching for any variations. This study found four DNA areas that conferred a slight risk of psychiatric disorders. Two have been identified as genes that are part of the calcium channel. It is not clear what the other two genes are involved in or what they do.

I found this article to be interesting. The study that was preformed did produce good results however, I think further research is still required. Especially on the two genes that researchers are not sure of what their function is, maybe they are the key to creating a better treatment for psychiatric illnesses.

Mental illness connected to Genetics

It has been speculated that the genetic make of a person may affect their mental stability. Dr. Smoller a professor at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital was an author of a paper that studied the genes involved in the signal process in the brain. The reason the researchers suspected a relation between genes and a persons mental disorders is,  because the case of twins.  It is vital that the researchers found specific genes that coded the specific signal system. There might be a way to found how the signals are getting disrupted and reverse the process.

The studied began with a looking at the genome of patient with  psychiatric illnesses.  Then it was compared to patients who did not have any psychiatric illnesses. The researchers could compare the psychiatric illnesses and determine if there was any variance to the other strand. It was speculated that two disorders involve the calcium channel. There are more studies being done to see if calcium channel blockers could affect the disorder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/health/study-finds-genetic-risk-factors-shared-by-5-psychiatric-disorders.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A13%22%7D&_r=0