Gene linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

An international team of researchers, including scientists from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), has discovered a new genetic link with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The discovery could aid in earlier and better diagnosis and treatment of these mental illnesses and could give further insight in to the mechanisms involved in chizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The gene, called ABCA13, is active in the hippocampus and cortex regions of the brain and had not previously been associated with mental illness. Dr Allan McRae from QIMR’s Queensland Statistic Genetics Laboratory says in a statement the that discovery of the gene was a lucky break.

“We did a genetic analysis on a patient with chronic schizophrenia and discovered he had a break in his DNA, right in the middle of the ABCA13 gene. The break meant that the gene wouldn’t work properly, so we hypothesised that this might be the reason for their illness,” said Dr McRae. “We tested this theory in another 3,000 people, by examining this gene in schizophrenia, bipolar and depression patients and comparing it to people without these conditions. We found that the gene was involved in four per cent of individuals with bipolar and two per cent of people with schizophrenia,” said Dr McRae.

“This is quite significant, since we think that these disorders are caused by hundreds or even thousands of genes.” This study was published in The American Journal of Human Genetics.