Bipolar disorder: the genetic risk revealed
13th January 2006
 |
| Professor Mitchell |
 |
| Professor Schofield |
A risk gene for bipolar disorder has been shown for the first time by a team including researchers from UNSW and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
The research found those who have a particular form of this gene are twice as likely to develop the condition.
“This research could eventually have a positive impact on many people’s lives,” said one of the authors, Professor Philip Mitchell, the head of Psychiatry at UNSW. “It could help with better diagnosis of the condition and may also allow for new treatments.”
Bipolar disorder, which is also known as manic-depressive illness, affects two in every 100 people, with mood swings resulting in periods of mania and depression with normal behaviour between episodes.
“Apart from lithium, which a significant number of patients cannot tolerate, the currently available medicines are not specific for the condition,” said Professor Mitchell. “The identification of this gene could allow for the development of targeted medicines.”
The researchers are the first in the world to take such a multi-faceted approach to identify a bipolar risk gene.
“We used a number of families, unrelated patients and therapeutic drug models. Each of these led us to the same gene, called F-A-T 1,” said UNSW Professor Peter Schofield, who led the team at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and is now the Executive Director of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute (POWMRI).
Although the researchers have identified the gene, they are now trying to work out how it increases the risk of the disorder.
The research, which also involves those from Macquarie University, NISAD (Neuroscience Institute for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders), the University of Wales (Cardiff) and the Black Dog Institute at the Prince of Wales Hospital, has just been published in Molecular Psychiatry. The lead author on the paper, Dr Ian Blair, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, is also a UNSW conjoint senior lecturer.
The research found those who have a particular form of this gene are twice as likely to develop the condition.
“This research could eventually have a positive impact on many people’s lives,” said one of the authors, Professor Philip Mitchell, the head of Psychiatry at UNSW. “It could help with better diagnosis of the condition and may also allow for new treatments.”
Bipolar disorder, which is also known as manic-depressive illness, affects two in every 100 people, with mood swings resulting in periods of mania and depression with normal behaviour between episodes.
“Apart from lithium, which a significant number of patients cannot tolerate, the currently available medicines are not specific for the condition,” said Professor Mitchell. “The identification of this gene could allow for the development of targeted medicines.”
The researchers are the first in the world to take such a multi-faceted approach to identify a bipolar risk gene.
“We used a number of families, unrelated patients and therapeutic drug models. Each of these led us to the same gene, called F-A-T 1,” said UNSW Professor Peter Schofield, who led the team at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and is now the Executive Director of the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute (POWMRI).
Although the researchers have identified the gene, they are now trying to work out how it increases the risk of the disorder.
The research, which also involves those from Macquarie University, NISAD (Neuroscience Institute for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders), the University of Wales (Cardiff) and the Black Dog Institute at the Prince of Wales Hospital, has just been published in Molecular Psychiatry. The lead author on the paper, Dr Ian Blair, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, is also a UNSW conjoint senior lecturer.
Share on Facebook Add to Del.icio.us Digg this story |