Family and genetic studies on the relationship of schizophrenia to affective disorders.
Schizophrenia is a genetically influenced disease with a broad and heterogeneous phenotype transmitted in families. Of particular interest is the familial-genetic relationship between schizophrenia and affective disorders. Taking advantage of refined epidemiological methods, the dichotomy between both groups of disorders is not less consistently found than expected. Recently, linkage studies identified multiple candidate regions for susceptibility genes for each of both disorders. Several of these candidate regions for schizophrenia are overlapping with candidate regions for bipolar disorder. Thus, the hypothesis of an etiological dichotomy of schizophrenia and affective disorders faces a new challenge.
Maier
W
W
Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universität Bonn, Germany. w.maier@uni-bonn.de
Rietschel
M
M
Lichtermann
D
D
Wildenauer
D B
DB
D002869:Chromosome Aberrations / Q000235:genetics; D025063:Chromosome Disorders; D002879:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 10 / Q000235:genetics; D002882:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 13 / Q000235:genetics; D002887:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 / Q000235:genetics; D002892:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22 / Q000235:genetics; D008040:Genetic Linkage / Q000235:genetics; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications* / Q000235:genetics*