Scientists dig deeper into the genetics of schizophrenia by evaluating...(ions in microRNA processing result in sy...)

The significance of this work is that it implicates a completely novel, previously unsuspected group of susceptibility genes and brings investigators a step closer to understanding the biological mechanisms of this disorder. Implication of such a large family of genes (the most recent estimate puts the number of human microRNAs at at least 400 that influence the expression of as many as a third of all genes) could partly account for the genetic complexity associated with this devastating disorder and explain some of the difficulties that the researchers have encountered in their efforts to pinpoint individual genes.

Our hope is that the more we know about the genes involved in schizophrenia, the more targeted treatment can be, said Dr. Gogos.

Much in the way that cancer patients who have tested for a particular gene, such as BRAC1, can be tested and then treated with protocols designed specifically for them, we want to be able to know enough about the schizophrenic brain to target treatments to individual patients.

The next step for the researchers is to find the many genes whose expression is controlled by the identified deficient microRNAs, which could in turn be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Much more study and identification of other genetic variants must be done to further illuminate the diseases genetic underpinnings, according to Drs. Karayiorgou and Gogos.

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