Archief Roodbont

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By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 22 - There is further evidence that a gene linked with schizophrenia - the disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene -- is also associated with bipolar disorder, researchers report in the January issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

"DISC1 is a very interesting candidate gene for major mental illness," senior investigator Dr. Pamela Sklar, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, told Reuters Health. "Previous genetic studies have not yet found which part of the gene sequence causes disease."

Dr. Sklar and colleagues conducted a large-scale family-based association study of bipolar disorder. As part of the process, the team genotyped 1261 autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 829 individuals from 225 families.

A main aim was to probe the role of genes related to the lithium mechanism of action. However, none of these genes appeared to be associated with bipolar disorder.

There was evidence of association for genes expressing sialyltransferase 4A, tachykinin receptor 1, and gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABA-A)-beta-2 receptor subunit.

Of other genes associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in a number of other studies, only DISC1 showed an association.

Dr. Sklar said, "the current study adds to a growing body of work suggesting that the gene DISC1 is important in major mental illness, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."

"Importantly," she concluded, "the study emphasizes the need for far larger samples and more focuses and in-depth genetic study to clarify what is going on."

Arch Gen Psychiatry 2008;65:53-61.