More than 600 people gathered in Hamburg, Germany, 14-18 October, to attend the 20th World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics. New sequencing results in schizophrenia highlighted many genetic glitches potentially related to the disorder, but definitively linking them to it will be tricky.
Read this meeting report at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Another round of sequencing in schizophrenia offers up a new batch of genetic mutations in sporadic cases of the disorder. Published online October 3 in Nature Genetics, the study undertakes the largest hunt yet for spontaneously arising “de novo” mutations in the protein-coding regions of the genome.
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As a man ages, the chance that his children will carry new, spontaneously occurring mutations grows, according to a study in Nature.
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In Molecular Psychiatry last week, researchers presented two new drugs that show antipsychotic-like effects in mice, without the side effects associated with proven antipsychotics. The new drugs target receptors that might fine tune neurotransmitter signals thought to be off-kilter in schizophrenia.
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For 25%-30% of people with schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations continue mostly unabated despite treatment with antipsychotic drugs. A form of non-invasive brain stimulation called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may quell these diehard symptoms, reports a recent study in American Journal of Psychiatry.
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Three novel schizophrenia genes, and several prior ones, emerge from the latest survey of common variants in schizophrenia. The findings also argue that strict definitions of schizophrenia are not needed for reliable genetic results.
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Abnormal mixups of chromosome pieces in people with autism point to a whopping 33 genes of interest, according to a study in Cell. Though 22 of the genes had never been linked to autism before, seven are known schizophrenia candidates.
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One of the last sessions of the meeting featured talks about oxytocin treatment for schizophrenia. Popularly known as a “trust hormone” oxytocin enhances social behavior, but a checkered pattern of results suggests that oxytocin may help the most in a therapeutic alliance with targeted social skill training.
Read this meeting report at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
The gene encoding the melanocortin 4 receptor, known for its involvement in human obesity, has now been linked to antipsychotic-induced weight gain by a study published in Archives of General Psychiatry. The findings move researchers closer to predicting a person’s response to a drug — in this case a side effect.
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Stressful experiences turn down signaling of the chemical messenger glutamate in the rat brain, according to a recent study in Neuron. The findings could provide some insight into what makes a brain vulnerable to mental illness.
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