Perspicuo
Veteran Member
Schizophrenia is actually eight genetically distinct disorders, study reveals
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20141609-26184.html
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20141609-26184.html
Scientists have identified eight separate clusters of genetic variations that, together, carry a 70 to 100 percent risk of a patient developing a certain type of schizophrenia.
The discovery could revolutionise diagnosis and treatment for the debilitating psychiatric illness. Scientists already knew that around 80 percent of the risk of schizophrenia is inherited, but have struggled for decades to identify specific genes linked to the condition.
But a new approach has analysed the DNA of more than 4,000 people with the illness, and have identified that there are actually eight different classes of schizophrenia, each influenced by distinct gene clusters.
The research was led by scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis in the US.
“Genes don’t operate by themselves,” said C. Robert Cloninger, one of the senior investigators, in a press release. “They function in concert much like an orchestra, and to understand how they’re working, you have to know not just who the members of the orchestra are but how they interact.”