The largest genetic study on schizophrenia to date has identified a number of hereditary factors that greatly increase the risk of developing the disorder. The study was carried out by a group that included researchers from University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht and the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience; these individuals made an important contribution to the research. The article was published online on July 30 in the scientific journal Nature.
These unique findings provide researchers with new indicators for the biological causes of schizophrenia, which in the future could possibly lead to improvements in diagnosis and treatment. Many thousands of patients participated in the study. They came primarily from a number of European countries, including the Netherlands.
In Nature, the researchers describe three “microdeletions” that considerably increase susceptibility to schizophrenia. Microdeletions are tiny fragments of missing DNA that can contain a number of different genes. According to the researchers, searching for missing pieces of DNA in patients offers a promising way to unravel the genetic basis of the condition.
Schizophrenia is a common chronic psychiatric disorder that affects around 1 percent of the population. It develops mainly in young adults. For some time now, hereditary factors have been known to play an important role in a person’s susceptibility to schizophrenia. At the same time, though, it has proved almost impossible to identify the underlying genes. This new study is the first to bring about a change in this.