20.01.2015 - (idw) Universittsklinikum Heidelberg A gene that influences the communication between nerve cells has a higher mutation rate in schizophrenia patients than in healthy individuals / Previously unknown gene mutations show a functional effect in nerve cells / Parallels between genetic alterations in patients with schizophrenia and autism / Scientists from Heidelberg publish in Molecular Psychiatry Researchers from Heidelberg University Hospital have identified 10 previously unknown genetic alterations (mutations) in schizophrenia patients. The affected gene defines the blueprint for a scaffolding protein, the SHANK2 protein, which plays a determinant role in the structures connecting nerve cells (neurons). These 10 gene variants represent risk factors for schizophrenia, said Prof. Dr. Gudrun Rappold, head of the Department of Molecular Human Genetics at Heidelberg University Hospital and senior author of the article. The alterations have only been found in schizophrenia patients and are not in any healthy individuals. Mutations that are not found in healthy people could have a direct effect on the disease says Dr. Slavil Peykov, researcher and first author of the study. The results have recently been published in the renowned scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry. The protein SHANK2 is already known to Professor Rappolds research department from another standpoint: … Continue reading →