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Researchers have identified a gene they believe increases the risk of developing schizophrenia.
The researchers at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, N.Y., in
collaboration with the Harvard Medical School, used whole genome association to search the entire human genome in 178 schizophrenic patients and 144 healthy individuals.The WGA technology was used to examine more than 500,000 genetic markers in each individual -- the largest number of such markers examined to date, and the first published study to utilize WGA technology in a psychiatric illness.
The researchers observed multiple gene abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia that were not found, or were found much less commonly, in healthy individuals.
It's important to note that if you have the gene it doesn’t mean you'll develop schizophrenia. Who really wants to know if they might develop schizophrenia one day? Not to mention it raises the specter of genetic discrimination. I think that knowledge would make me schizophrenic. Unless there's a way to prevent the disease, I can't imagine wanting such information. Apparently it's not easy.
The results are published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
UPDATE: Coincidentally, the New York Times ran a story Sunday describing exactly what it's like to know you carry a lethal gene.
