Study finds latest genetic link to schizophrenia

by Rich Bowden - Oct 12 2008, 21:23

An international study conducted on members of Indian castes, has found an important link between genetics and schizophrenia.

The research, which is a collaborative effort between the University of Queensland's Centre for Mental Health Research in Australia, and the Schizophrenia Research Foundation in Chennai, India, has found "statistically significant evidence for involvement of a chromosome 1 region in schizophrenia," according to a UQ news release.

The research is led by Professor Bryan Mowry, QCMHR Executive Director and his colleague Dr. Rangaswamy Thara, Director of the Schizophrenia Research Foundation, and has focused for many years on schizophrenia pedigrees from genetically similar Indian castes.

“Although we have known for decades that genes are important in schizophrenia, identifying specific genes has been hampered by clinical complexity, multiple small-effect genes and environmental interactions,” Professor Mowry said.

“This Indian population offers favourable characteristics for gene identification including a relatively pure clinical presentation, a negligible rate of comorbid drug and alcohol abuse, ethnic homogeneity and high environmental consistency, each of which may reduce noise in statistical genetic studies of schizophrenia.”

The research, published in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry, backs up previous studies of both Caucasian and Chinese populations that hinted at a connection between the chromosome 1 region and schizophrenia. However the Indian-Australian study is the first to find convincing results of the link, say the team.

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