Schizophrenia Genetic Networks Identified; Connection to Autism Found

Although schizophrenia is highly genetic in origin, the genes involved in the disorder have been difficult to identify. In the past few years, researchers have implicated several genes, but it is unclear how they act to produce the disorder. A new study by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center identifies affected gene networks and provides insight into the molecular causes of the disease.

The paper was published in the online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Using an unbiased collection of hundreds of mutations associated with schizophrenia, the Columbia researchers applied a sophisticated computational approach to uncover hidden relationships among seemingly unrelated genes. The analysis revealed that many of the genes mutated in schizophrenia are organized into two main networks, which take part in a few key processes, including axon guidance, synapse function, neuron mobility, and chromosomal modification.

The study also uncovered an intriguing connection between schizophrenia and autism. “If we hadn’t known that these were two different diseases, and had put all the mutations into a single analysis, it would have come up with very similar networks,” said the study’s senior author, Dennis Vitkup, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and the Columbia Initiative in Systems Biology at Columbia University Medical Center. “It shows how closely the autism and schizophrenia genetic networks are intertwined,” he added.