Gains Reported in Search for Gene Linked to Schizophrenia

The search for schizophrenia genes has received a boost from new studies that suggest researchers are looking in the right place.

Several teams of researchers have found evidence supporting the idea that a gene making people susceptible to schizophrenia lies somewhere in a particular region of Chromosome 6. The initial suggestion made news in May, when scientists published an analysis of genetic material from 186 Irish families.

With the new data, the evidence for a gene in that region is “very strong,” said Richard Straub of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, who led one of the new studies with colleague Dr. Ken Kendler.

The four studies are published in the November issue of the journal Nature Genetics, along with two others that reported no evidence for the gene.

Eric Lander, a genetics expert at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., said the evidence “persuaded me that there is a gene in that region.” However, it is not clear what proportion of schizophrenia cases is related to the gene, or what other factors must be present to cause the disease, he said.

Straub and Kendler led a team that expanded the May research to 265 Irish families with multiple cases of schizophrenia or related disorders.