title: Schizophrenia and frontotemporal dementia: shared causation?
abstract: The relationship between specific genes and particular diseases in neuropsychiatry is unclear, and newer studies focus on shared domains of neurobiological and cognitive pathology across different disorders. This paper reviews the evidence for an association between schizophrenia and frontotemporal dementia, including symptom similarity, familial co-morbidity, and neuroanatomical changes. Genetic as well as epigenetic findings from both schizophrenia and frontotemporal dementia are also discussed. As a result, we introduce the hypothesis of a shared susceptibility for certain subgroups of schizophrenia and frontotemporal dementia. This common causation may involve the same gene(s) at different stages of life: early in schizophrenia and late in frontotemporal dementia. Additionally, we provide a rationale for future research that should emphasize both genetic and cognitive parallels between certain forms of schizophrenia and frontotemporal dementia in a synergistic, coordinated way, placing both in the context of aberrant lateralization patterns.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Poland.
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harciarek
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malaspina
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Elkhonon
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D057180:Frontotemporal Dementia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology