Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Another Gene Segment Linked with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

An altered form (called a polymorphism by geneticists) in the XBP1 gene may indicate a genetic risk for schizophrenia.

According to a study from China, "Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are two major psychiatric illnesses that may share specific genetic risk factors to a certain extent. Increasing evidence suggests that the two disorders might be more closely related than previously considered."

"In order to test this hypothesis," said W.Y. Chen and coauthors, "we
investigated a functional polymorphism -197C/G in XBP1, which was reported to increase the risk of bipolar disorder, in a case-control study (374 cases vs.
371 controls) to evaluate its genetic role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.
"
"Our current data suggest that -197C/G in XBP1 is also a genetic risk factor
for schizophrenia. In addition," Chen concluded, "it presents a sex-dependent genetic effect for the disorder."

Chen and colleagues published their study in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (A case-control study provides evidence of the link of a functional polymorphism-197C/G in XBP1 to schizophrenia and suggests a sex-dependent effect. Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 2004;319(3):866-870).