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| Psychiatric genetics: Back to the future | ||||||||||
| Introduction
By Barbara J. Culliton October 13, 2000 
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Neuroscience and psychiatry are two related fields that appear most likely to benefit first from the genomics revolution. There is little doubt that behavior is influenced, in part, by genes. In the September 22nd edition of the Genome News Network (GNN), we reported that another polymorphism in the dopamine D4 receptor gene has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Many studies have reported associations between the dopamine D4 receptor and ADHD, making this one of the important success stories of psychiatric genetics. But the precise role of the gene remains unknown. Furthermore, if it really is a susceptibility gene for ADHD, it is one of many and much remains to be learned about how these genes interact with an individual's external and internal cellular environment to produce disease. Where are psychiatry's other success stories? Associations between APOE
—Barbara J. Culliton Download Psychiatric genetics: Back to the future (pdf) See related GNN article
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and Alzheimer's disease are intriguing, as are data suggesting an inherited
component to manic depression or bipolar disorder. However, as is true
in most areas in which genomics will be important, this is just the beginning.
In a Millennium article in Molecular Psychiatry, Mike Owen et
al. reviewed the state of psychiatric genetics and considered how
the field might advance and address the problems ahead. Professor Owen
is head of the Department of Psychological Medicine of the University
of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff, UK.