Breakthrough as Edinburgh University finds 'mental illness' gene

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 20:47

SCOTS scientists have discovered a gene that could help explain the causes of mental illness.

Research at Edinburgh University found the gene – ABCA13 – is partially inactive in patients with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.

The scientists say that identifying the genes that predispose people to psychiatric illness is seen as the most important step in developing ways to tackle the conditions.

The international team of scientists, led by experts at Edinburgh University, studied the genes of 2,000 psychiatric patients and compared them to 2,000 healthy people. They found the ABCA13 gene was faulty more frequently in patients with mental illness, than in the control group.

The results suggest the gene plays a crucial role in maintaining brain health.

The team believes the gene may influence the way fat molecules are used in brain cells and the researchers will now focus on finding out exactly how this occurs.

It is hoped the discovery will lead to drugs that could restore mental health in patients with psychiatric illness.

Douglas Blackwood, Professor of Psychiatric Genetics at Edinburgh University, led the research.

He said: "This is an exciting step forward in our understanding of the underlying causes of some common mental illnesses. These risk genes could signpost new directions for treatments."

Dr Ben Pickard, part of the Edinburgh team, now of Strathclyde University, said the clue emerged after a mutation of the gene was identified in a single patient.

The scientists then compared how often mutations in the ABCA13 gene occurred in a group of people with psychiatric illness, compared to the healthy population.

They found that in nine out of ten mutations, they were significantly more common.

Dr Pickard said: "This study is the first to identify multiple points of DNA damage within a single gene that are linked with psychiatric illness.

"It strongly suggests that this gene may regulate an important part of brain function that is linked with these devastating disorders."

He added: "There are several very interesting things that come from this work. The first is that we have got a gene and an inkling about what it might do.

"It seems to be responsible for transporting lipids – various types of fat molecules – around and we suppose that if it fails to transport one particular type, it could have a knock-on affect on a particular aspect of cell function or the way that cells communicate with one another.

"The second thing is the fact that we find these mutations in this gene cropping up in people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression."

The research was led by Edinburgh University in collaboration with scientists at Aberdeen, Queensland and North Carolina Universities.

The results are published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

The study took around five years to complete and involved patients from Scotland, and the results are published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.