Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Schizophrenia Also Included In: Genetics;Psychology / Psychiatry Article Date: 19 May 2012 - 9:00 PDT

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Combined, these genes can generate a score, and determine whether an individual is at lower or higher risk of developing schizophrenia. The study, which was conducted along with a group of national and international collaborators, is published online in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

In addition, the authors applied their top genes to data from other studies of schizophrenia and were able to successfully identify which patients had been diagnosed with the disease and which had not.

When they examined the biological pathways in which the genes were active, they also proposed a model of schizophrenia, given that the disease's underlying causes are a mix of genetic variations that affect the development of the brain and neuronal connections together with environmental factors; in particular stress.

Lead researcher, Alexander B. Niculescu III, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and medical neuroscience at the IU School of Medicine, and director of the Laboratory of Neurophenomics at the IU Institute of Psychiatric Research, said:

Niculescu, who is also staff psychiatrist and investigator at the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center, continued:

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disease that makes it difficult for the person to distinguish between real and unreal experiences and to think logically. Approximately 1% of the population is affected by the disease, often with devastating impact.

Once the new test is refined, it could help physicians and caregivers identify which young people in families with a history of the disease are more likely to develop schizophrenia, prompting early intervention and treatment.

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Genetic Test May Predict Risk Of Schizophrenia