The Genetics of Schizophrenia

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a common psychiatric disorder with a strong genetic component. Recent studies applying new genomic technology to large samples have yielded substantial advances in identifying specific, associated DNA variants as well as clarifying the underlying genetic architecture of the disorder. The genetic liability of schizophrenia is now established as polygenic, with risk alleles in many genes existing across the full allelic frequency spectrum. It has also become apparent that schizophrenia shares risk alleles with other neuropsychiatric phenotypes, such as bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. These risk variants aggregate in several sets of functionally related genes, thereby providing novel insights into disease pathogenesis and opportunities for research into discovering new treatments.

Plasma miRNAs as potential biomarkers for schizophrenia in a Jordanian cohort

“…However, there are more than 270 loci that have been reported so far to be associated with SZ, there is no single gene can explain the cause of the disease [ 4 , 5 ]. Like other psychiatric disorders, SZ is a multifactorial disorder, which involves the interplay between genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors [ 6 , 7 ]. Although the diagnosis of SZ depends on the patient's signs and symptoms [ [7] , [8] , [9] ], nowadays scientists have focused on epigenetic markers such as such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and altered miRNAs expression that help in early SZ diagnosis [ 10 , 11 ].…”