New gene clues to schizophrenia risk

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Three studies published on Wednesday unveil flaws in several chromosomes that highlight an inherited vulnerability to schizophrenia.

Among people with schizophrenia, deletions and duplications are more common in key locations of the genetic code compared to otherwise healthy counterparts, according to the papers, released by the London-based journal Nature.

The studies cast a net through the genomes of thousands of people with schizophrenia and a large number of "controls" for comparison.

Schizophrenia is a complex brain disorder, characterised by delusions and hallucinations, that strikes around one person in 100 at some point in their lives -- usually in late adolescence or early adulthood -- and with often devastating results.

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