Trinity College Dublin researchers shed new light on schizophrenia

The gene ZNF804A associated with increased risk for schizophrenia may be particularly important for the form that the disorder takes. That is the finding recently published by researchers from the Neuropsychiatric Genetics Research Group (NRG) at Trinity College Dublin in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the prestigious peer-reviewed journal in psychiatry.

The study, which represented an international collaboration with researchers from the Universities of Cardiff and Munich, was led by Trinity College Dublin researchers Dr Gary Donohoe, Professor Aiden Corvin, Dr Derek Morris, and Professor Michael Gill of the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, TCD. The study was based on samples of patients and healthy control participants from Ireland and Germany and was sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland, The Wellcome Trust and NARSAD.

Commenting on the study Dr Donohoe stated 'schizophrenia is a very disabling disorder characterised by symptoms that vary widely from patient to patient. Individual genes like ZNF804A only explain a small amount of the risk for schizophrenia, so understanding which aspects of the disorder they are involved in is important. Our study addressed this by focusing specifically on cognitive abilities such as memory and intelligence, which are often impaired in schizophrenia. We found that patients carrying the ZNF804A risk variant were more likely to present with a form of illness in which these cognitive deficits were not a feature. Characterising the specific contribution of individual genes in this way will hopefully direct our efforts to understand the biological basis of their role in illness risk.'