Schizophrenia baffles most; people often associate the disease with a loose conglomeration of symptoms such as hearing voices and hallucinations. Even the word schizophrenia is misleading—it roughly translates to the splitting of the mind. Researchers have been struggling to understand the disease, which only affects 1 percent of the U.S. population, but is one of the most debilitating mental illnesses.
Three new studies in the journal Nature have shown that a few small changes in our genome can cause this disorder and many people in the population carry the anomalies. The authors scanned the genomes of 2,663 people with schizophrenia and 13,498 without it, looking for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). SNPs are genetic variations present in most people, but more commonly found in people with schizophrenia. The researchers discovered that people with schizophrenia had many deviations on their genes in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), a cluster of genes responsible for controlling immune reactions.
Researchers say this discovery is particularly intriguing because many people in the general population share the same variations on their MHC genes, but not everyone develops schizophrenia. They even speculate that if a mother becomes ill while pregnant, this can cause the genes to mutate from a normal to abnormal gene.
The researchers also found variations on NRGN and TCF4, which affects some of the pathways that control brain development, memory, and cognition. “It’s a disease of thoughts and emotions, the two functions of the brain that define us as a species and define us as individuals,” said Kari Stefansson, CEO of the Icelandic company deCODE Genetics and one of the investigators.
“Common variants conferring risk of schizophrenia,” Nature.
Comments (4)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
Weird, I was reading an article this morning on Slate.com about gluten-intolerance that mentioned that people with celiac disease (an autoimmune disorder affecting the intestines) are more likely to suffer from other diseases, one of which was schizophrenia. http://www.slate.com/id/2223745/
posted by Jessica on 7-29-2009 at 1:44 pm
Interesting … another fun fact about schizophrenia is that it might be delayed because of estrogen.
posted by mor on 7-29-2009 at 2:00 pm
It’s a possibility that all these genetic anomolies in our minds are due to our oversized cerebrum and that we have yet to tap into its power completely. Homo sapien is still a relatively young species (i.e. we still have many back and neck problems because we haven’t as a species completely evolved into standing vertically yet). Mental disorders may just be a case of us using our minds outside of the natural, instinct-minded ways, causing permanent chemical disturbances in our mind that we have yet to evolve over. Schizophrenia may be one of those things that we will eventually grow immune to. (physical and mental immune systems maybe?)
Then again, as far as schizophrenia is concerned, another part of me disagrees with that completely.
posted by Steven on 7-29-2009 at 2:45 pm
Jessica,
I have celiac disease, and yep, there are a host of other things that can be related to it. I do wonder, however, how many things are secondary causes, brought on by the malnutition that results from being an undiagnosed celiac. There are many people who deal for years and years with things such as joint pain, depression, fibermyalgia (sic?), skin problems, etc., and once they go on a gluten free diet the problems eventually clear up. But on the other hand, type 1 diabetics have a higher incidence of celiac disease, as do people with downs syndrome. There is still so much unknown, but research is increasing because they now estimate that 1 in 100 people have celiac disease.
Thanks for the slate link!
EV
posted by EV on 7-29-2009 at 5:42 pm