Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Schizophrenia Genetics among Top Scientific Breakthroughs of 2005

The prestigious Science Magazine just released its annual list of Breakthroughs of the Year for 2005 in its latest issue (23 December 2005), highlighting work on evolution and natural selection at the top of the list.

Listed among the "runners up" at #5 was Miswiring in the Brain, including the following emphasizing new findings on the Genetics of Schizophrenia:

In November, two reports put meat on the bones of previous claims that variants of a gene called DISC1 increase the risk of schizophrenia. One research team found that inhibiting DISC1 activity in mice alters brain development, causing subtle abnormalities in the animals' cerebral cortices similar to those seen in postmortem brains from schizophrenia patients. Another team linked DISC1 to molecular signaling pathways important in brain development and in regulating neurotransmitter levels, which are often out of whack in psychiatric patients.

For more information, check out the original blurb here, which also includes links to additional online materials.

For those who are interested, I will be reviewing the original scientific articles describing these findings on this blog in the near future.

Also, for more information on DISC1, check out these recent postings:

UCLA Schizophrenia Genetics Discoveries
Damaged gene & Schizophrenia Predisposition (DISC1)