Autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder share molecular traits, study finds

Most medical disorders have well-defined physical characteristics seen in tissues, organs and bodily fluids. Psychiatric disorders, in contrast, are not defined by such pathology, but rather by behavior.A UCLA-led study,publishedin Science, has found that autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder share some physical characteristics — and important differences — at the molecular level, specifically, patterns of gene expression in the brain. Gene expression is the process by which instructions in DNA are converted into a product, such as a protein.“These findings provide a molecular, pathological signature of these disorders, which is a large step forward,” said senior author Daniel Geschwind, a distinguished professor of neurology, psychiatry and human genetics and director of the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment. “The maj or challenge now is to understand how these changes arose.”Researchers know that certain variations in genetic material put people at risk for psychiatric disorders, but DNA alone doesn ’t tell the whole story. Every cell in the body contains the same DNA; RNA molecules, on the other hand, play a role in gene expression in different parts of the body, by “reading” the instructions contained within DNA.Geschwind and the study ’s lead author, Michael Gandal, reasoned that taking a close look at the RNA in human brain tissue would provide a molecular profile of these psychiatric disorders. Gandal is an assistant professor of ps...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news