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Writer's pictureSimone McKitterick

Genes May Explain Lithium-Resistant Bipolar Disorder



About 6 million people, or 2.5 percent of the U.S. population, have bipolar disorder. The causes of the disorder suggest a genetic connection. Specifically, 226.1 And they do not belong exclusively to bipolar disorder. Any given individual can have one of many different combinations of these genes, so that there are many different bipolar disorders, operating on a spectrum. 226 genes make approximately 35,000 different combinations. But there are other, unexpected factors involved as well.


A recent study from the JAMA Psychiatry Journal states that people with bipolar disorder that’s resistant to the drug lithium have a high number of genes associated with schizophrenia. Researchers studied the genetics of more than 2,500 bipolar patients who were given lithium, and found that patients clinically diagnosed with bipolar disorder who showed a poor response to lithium treatment all shared something in common: a high number of genes previously identified for schizophrenia.


According to study author Bernhard Baune, head of psychiatry at the University of Adelaide, in Australia, “This doesn’t mean that the patient also had schizophrenia — but if a bipolar patient has a high ‘gene load’ of schizophrenia risk genes, our research shows they are less likely to respond to mood stabilizers such as lithium.”


“In addition, we identified new genes within the immune system that may play an important biological role in the underlying pathways of lithium and its effect on treatment response,” Baune said.


“In conjunction with other biomarkers and clinical variables, our findings will help to advance the highly needed ability to predict the response to treatment prior to an intervention. This research also provides new clues as to how patients with bipolar disorder and other psychiatric disorders should be treated in the future,” he added.


SOURCE: University of Adelaide, news release, Nov. 8, 2017

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