"Even though bipolar disorder affects millions of people around the world--sometimes throughout their lifetimes--what we understand to be biologically relevant at the genetic level is not terribly characterized," said Matthew McQueen, lead author and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). "This research can help focus the field to identify viable candidate genes."
The study will appear in the October issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics and is available now in the journal's electronic edition online at http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJHG/journal/contents/v77n4.html.
More than two million American adults have bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Patients typically experience dramatic mood swings from episodes of euphoria and high energy to feelings of intense sadness, fatigue, and even suicide. Psychiatrists have identified two primary forms of the illness: bipolar I disorder, which is the classic form of recurring mania and depression, and bipolar II disorder, which has less severe episodes of mania. Treatment often includes medication.
The exact cause of the illness remains unknown, but scientists suspect the involvement of several genes, coupled with environmental influences. A number of individual studies have suggested genomic regions linked to bipolar disorder, but their results have been inconsistent and difficult to replicate, leaving the field "standing at a crossroads, wondering in which direction to go next," said McQueen.
To establish more definitive researc
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Contact: Christina Roache
croache@hsph.harvard.edu
617-432-6052
Harvard School of Public Health
15-Sep-2005