Altered gene may make some people prone to schizophrenia

Washington, April 8 (ANI): Rutgers geneticists have announced the discovery of a specific DNA change that may make some people prone to schizophrenia.

Lead researcher Linda Brzustowicz says that her team's study provides a potential mechanism that may be a point of entry for drug therapy, consistent with the growing trend of personalized medicine.

She said that the study revealed a functional DNA change that increases gene expression.

She and her colleagues made this finding while studying a Canadian population of 24 families where multiple individuals had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The researchers revealed that the gene in question is NOS1AP, previously known as CAPON.

Linda, however, added that schizophrenia is not a single-gene disorder, and that there are environmental factors that are also important.

"It is not as though, if you have this altered gene, you will get the disease," she said.

A research article on this study has been published in the American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP). (ANI)