There are many different mental disorders. Nevertheless, it is difficult to make the correct diagnosis, as one often has to base them on symptoms. For example, you don’t get an answer via a blood test. Nor does it make the matter any easier that two people can experience the same disease very differently. – The understanding and treatment of mental disorders is still limited. Research fellow and psychiatrist Guy Hindley tells news. And this is a problem when, among other things, you have to find the right help. Together with colleagues at the University of Oslo, Hindley has taken a deep dive into our genes to see if the answer may lie there. Our genes decide We are all born with the same genes, but small differences make me me and you you. A gene variant can make me tall and you short. They can also make us more susceptible to mental disorders. Now, in a new study, Norwegian researchers have found that it is the sum of gene variants that says something about which mental disorder we may get. They have primarily looked at the connection between ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia. And one of the questions researchers are now asking is whether it is at all correct to define bipolar disorder as one thing and schizophrenia as something else. These disorders have many of the same gene variants. That is, there are no specific variants for ADHD or depression. Olav Bjerkehagen Smeland (left) is senior physician in psychiatry at Oslo University Hospital. Guy Hindley is a research fellow and doctor. They are both employed at the Norwegian Center for Research in Mental Disorders (NORMENT) at the University of Oslo. Photo: NORMENT/University of Oslo A good deal of mathematics Studying genes is no simple matter. Here, the researchers have collaborated with both mathematicians, statisticians and computer scientists. A group of nearly 30 researchers has used advanced mathematics to analyze millions of genetic variants. This is carried out via a heavy-duty calculator – a machine that is many thousands of times faster than the PC in the office. Among other things, the researchers looked at all the gene variants that have something to do with bipolar disorder. They have then linked these to all the variants that have something to do with schizophrenia. And the result? Just over 10,000 genetic variants are linked to mental disorders. This image illustrates our DNA. Here, our genes lie one after the other in a row. These strands are packed tightly together in chromosomes. Photo: ILLUSTRATION: COLORBOX Should one distinguish between the disorders? Olav Bjerkehagen Smeland is a researcher and senior physician in psychiatry. He is also a co-author of the new study. He believes the new findings are important for understanding the diagnostic system in psychiatry. – The psychiatric diagnoses are not genetically separate. Then we have to ask ourselves why we should have a distinction between the disorders. With the genetic research, we may be able to divide the diagnoses in a different way. One of the findings showed, among other things, that bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have 8,500 gene variants in common. Now the researchers hope that the new results will help many people in the long run. A lot of back and forth It is not unusual for people who suffer from mental illnesses to have their diagnosis changed during follow-up, explains Guy Hindley. For example, this can happen if you change therapists. This in turn can mean that it takes a long time to get the right help. It should also be quite common for the first round of medication not to work very well. – Many patients have to go through several different ones before they land on something that works for them, says Hindley. But even if the Norwegian researchers can now give a probability value for a disorder, this is not enough. They need more genetic knowledge for this to be of clinical benefit. The idea is that when you know which genes are affected by the gene variants, new medicines can be made. – Then we are talking about future, personalized treatment for mental disorders. But we are still only in the starting phase. Over the next ten years, we will be able to uncover much more, says Olav Bjerkehagen Smeland. Findings from the study • Only two percent of our genome consists of genes. Gene variants can occur both inside and outside our genes. • The researchers have compared the gene variants that lead to the mental disorders ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depression. • There is a large degree of genetic overlap between the disorders. • It is the sum of many gene variants that says something about which disorder you may get, but environmental factors also play a role. • The strongest correlation is between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. • Even if the same gene variant affects several disorders, the same gene variant can increase the likelihood of one disorder and at the same time decrease the likelihood of another disorder. • When researchers know which gene variants affect which genes, new targeted medicines can be created.
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Researchers find great genetic similarities between various mental disorders – news Trøndelag
