Schizophrenia: Genetic Causes

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Schizophrenia is now believed to be the culmination of multiple individually harmless genetic disorders, rather than the result of a single issue.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins used previous studies looking at the genetic make up of 123 families with more than two members with schizophrenia and their own study of 48 patients with schizophrenia to examine the relationship between genetics and the disease. The researchers found no link between schizophrenia and any one genetic mutation.
"These results support the idea that there's no single genetic recipe for schizophrenia, but that a buildup of mutations [in genetic pathways] can be the culprit," study author Dimitri Avramopoulos, M.D., was quoted as saying. "The results are also evidence for the current theory that schizophrenia isn't a single disease at all, but a suite of related disorders."
For more information, go to; http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/family_studies_suggest_rare_genetic_mutations_team_up_to_cause_schizophrenia
SOURCE: Translational Psychiatry, May 2013