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genetic risk factor for manic-depressive disorder discovered lose

New study offers insights into molecular processes in common neuropsychiatric disease, the variation in a particular gene increases the likelihood of manic-depressive disorder cancer. That an international research team reports in the The leadership of scientists from Bonn, Mannheim and Jülich. The finding is an important piece of the puzzle to understand the origin of the disease, play in genetic variation as well as environmental factors. The researchers present their results in the current online publication of the magazine "American Journal of Human Genetics (doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.01.017).

Bonn / Mannheim / Jülich. About one percent of the population suffers from manic-depressive disorder, a neuropsychiatric disorder. The mood of the people affected varies widely between pathological mania and depression. In a of the largest studies conducted so far to identify the genetic causes of bipolar disorder also have that disease compared scientists now hundreds of thousands, often occurring variants in the genetic material in a large number of patients and healthy people systematically. The result of this so-called genome-wide association study: A variant of the gene neurocan (NCAN) in people with manic-depressive disorder significantly more often than in healthy subjects.

"The identified risk variant increased the risk of developing the carrier. It determines not alone if you suffer", Sven Cichon, a professor at the Institute of Human Genetics the University of Bonn and the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine at the Research Centre Jülich. "The Bipolar Disorder is one of the so-called complex diseases. Thus it breaks must come together, many genetic risk factors and environmental influences," says Prof. Marcella Rietschel by the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim. So far, genome-wide association studies of manic-depressive disorder is not as successful as in other complex diseases such as diabetes mellitus, the type II, chronic inflammatory bowel disease or schizophrenia. "The higher the identification of the risk factor in the neurocan gene in bipolar disorder is cheap. We hope to obtain new insights into the molecular processes involved in these common neuropsychiatric disorder play a role, "said Prof. Mark M. Nöthen, director of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Bonn.

The gene neurocan (NCAN) is the brain researchers generally known: "We know that NCAN plays in the growth and cohesion of the brain cells a role," says Cichon "The fact that it is associated with bipolar disorder, was not yet clear, however."

investigations. in mice had also shown that the genetic information of neurocan in two main areas of the brain is retrieved, the affected brain tissue than in bipolar disorder are already known: the cortex and hippocampus. Initial studies of mice in which the gene was removed Neurocan stated, references to certain limitations in cognitive processes that are now being studied closely.

"We want to find out in detail, in which processes NCAN involved in the brain and how the presence of disease-associated gene variant disrupts this process," are the scientists involved agree. These findings could be effective therapies for the treatment of manic-depressive disorder of great use in future development.

Originalpaper:

Cichon, Mühleisen et al., Genome-wide Association Study Identifies Genetic Variation in Neurocan as Susceptibility Factor for Bipolar Disorder, The American Journal of Human Genetics, (2011),

doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.01.017

< www.cell.com/AJHG >

Jülicher Institut für Neurowissenschaften und Medizin, INM-1:

< www.fz-juelich.de/inm/inm-1/index.php?index=307 >

Bonner Institut Human Genetics:

\u0026lt; www.humangenetics.uni-bonn.de >

Mannheim Central Institute of Mental Health, Division Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry:

\u0026lt; www.zi- mannheim.de / marcella_rietschel.html >

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Sven Cichon

Tel 0228 6885 405 (Bonn) 02 461 61 1791 (Jülich) sven, . cichon@uni-bonn.de , s.cichon @ fz-juelich.de

Prof. Dr. Marcella Rietschel