Genetic aspects of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a disease of tremendous Public health importance that affects a staggering 1% the population. Identification of the genetic factors involved in the disease is expected to lead to improved. highly targeted treatments with fewer side effects, but it has not been forthcoming,. On the contrary. it has been a task of paramount difficulties and complexities. The high degree of genetic heterogeneity associated with the disease is further complicated by the clinical heterogeneity suspected in schizophrenia and most other psychiatric disorders, Despite the difficulties, several groups around the world employ various approaches in their search for schizophrenia genes such as linkage and linkage disequilibrium studies, candidate gene approaches, or turn to mouse models for more clues. Some general aspects of these approaches are discussed, and relevant work from Our group is presented. (C) 2001 Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease. All rights reserved.