新焦点:不自闭就精神分裂吧!

【字体: 时间:2009年04月09日 来源:生物通

编辑推荐:

  生物通报道,自闭症和精神分裂症是两种严重的精神疾病,通常人们很难将两者关联起来,而在《Sackler Colloquium on Evolution in Health and Medicine》上一篇新的文章告诉我们,自闭症和精神分裂症是两种对立的疾病,就像硬币的两面。

  

生物通报道,自闭症和精神分裂症是两种严重的精神疾病,通常人们很难将两者关联起来,而在《Sackler Colloquium on Evolution in Health and Medicine》上一篇新的文章告诉我们,自闭症和精神分裂症是两种对立的疾病,就像硬币的两面。

 

何谓对立关系呢?其实就是控制自闭症与精神分裂症发病的是同一个基因,发生不同的变化会导致不同的结果,简单来说,如果这一基因发生了突变,患者要么患自闭症,要么患精神分裂症。

 

从症状上来看,自闭症与精神分裂症也处于对立的境地,自闭症患者常常缺乏社交能力,而精神分裂症患者表现出过度发展的社交能力。

 

有几位进化生物学家认为自闭症与精神分裂症是进化竞争的后果,子代的基因来自父母亲,如果遗传的过程中出现意外,错误的遗传结果就会导致这些脑部疾病的发生。

 

Crespi认为这两种疾病的关联根源在于与脑部功能相关的基因上,可能是基因结构的变化导致自闭症或精神分裂症的发生。为了验证他的ideaCrespi18名自闭症和精神分裂症的患者进行了研究,结果发现在基因组上有7个区域与两种疾病有关联,其中5个区域的变化呈现对立的关系。在一种疾病中某些区域出现缺失,而另一种疾病中这些区域出现多拷贝现象。

 

这些研究成果为自闭症和精神分裂症的研究带来新的思路。

(生物通 小茜)

生物通推荐原文阅读:Brain diseases are genomic opposites

More details

This newfound link is an "extremely powerful and conceptual hook" to understand both diseases, Crespi said. For example, schizophrenic patients are thought to produce more dopamine in the brain, so perhaps researchers should now look to test whether autistic brains produce a paucity of the hormone, he said.

 

Another implication of the study is that children with early symptoms of schizophrenia might be being misdiagnosed as autistic, and vice versa. For several of the loci showing differential expression in the two disorders, there were a small number of patients showing the opposite effect -- for example, an autistic patient with a deletion that is normally associated with schizophrenia. Crespi suspects that these are mostly "false positive" diagnoses, rather than results that run counter to his hypothesis. Such incorrect medical assessments "could make children worse," Crespi said, adding that understanding the genetic underpinnings of these diseases could help avoid the problem.

 

"I took Crespi's point very seriously that if a youngster is misdiagnosed and mistreated then all hell breaks loose," said Mary-Claire King, a geneticist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the study.

相关新闻
生物通微信公众号
微信
新浪微博
  • 搜索
  • 国际
  • 国内
  • 人物
  • 产业
  • 热点
  • 科普
  • 急聘职位
  • 高薪职位

知名企业招聘

热点排行

    今日动态 | 人才市场 | 新技术专栏 | 中国科学人 | 云展台 | BioHot | 云讲堂直播 | 会展中心 | 特价专栏 | 技术快讯 | 免费试用

    版权所有 生物通

    Copyright© eBiotrade.com, All Rights Reserved

    联系信箱:

    粤ICP备09063491号