UCLA geneticists find location of major gene in ADHD; targeted region also linked...( ndidate genes such as those involved i...),Health

ndidate genes, such as those involved in regulation of dopamine, a chemical in the brain implicated in ADHD. Previous studies of dopamine receptor genes (whose products are important in releasing dopamine in the cells) and dopamine transporter genes (whose products are involved in moving dopamine between cells) suggest they may also be involved in ADHD. The risk for ADHD in individuals carrying these genes, however, is very small, maybe 1.2 to 1.5 times the risk of those without such genes.

ADHD is the most common childhood-onset behavioral disorder, affecting as many as one in 10 children and three times as many boys as girls. Symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity, which can last into adulthood, can affect school and work performance as well as social skills. Researchers estimate that the cause of ADHD is 70 percent to 80 percent genetic, and the remainder largely environmental.

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects perhaps as many as one in 500 children and usually appears within the first three years of a childs life. It affects the brain in the areas of social interaction and communication. Autism, like ADHD, is thought to be due to multiple genetic and environmental factors, although genetics seems to dominate, with more than 60 percent to 70 percent of the underlying cause of autism thought to be genetic.

The National Institute of Mental Health, a University of California BioStar grant and the Wellcome Trust, through the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, England, provided financial support for the research.

A team of investigators at UCLA and the Wellcome Trust Center for Human Genetics in Oxford conducted the research. The UCLA team includes Stanley F. Nelson and members of his lab, Vlad Kustanovich, Jennifer Stone and Matthew Ogdie of the UCLA Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics and Department of Human Genetics; James J. McGough and James T. McCracken of the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and
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Contact: Dan Page
dpage@support.ucla.edu
310-794-2265
University of California - Los Angeles
22-Oct-2002

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