deCODE-led Megastudy Finds New Genetic Clues to Causes of Schizophrenia
01 Juillet 2009 - 7:20PM
PR Newswire (US)
Findings Expand Knowledge of the Biology of the Disease and Provide
Potential New Drug Targets REYKJAVIK, Iceland, July 1
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The largest study of the genetics of
schizophrenia ever undertaken has revealed several new common
single-letter variants in the sequence of the human genome (SNPs)
linked to risk of the disease. The study, by a multinational
consortium of scientists led by a team from deCODE genetics
(NASDAQ:DCGN), analyzed the genomes of more than 50,000 patients
and control participants from fourteen countries. It is published
today in the online edition of Nature. One of the SNPs is located
near the neurogranin gene (NRGN) on chromosome 11. NRGN may be a
candidate drug target, as it appears to play an important role in
regulating both memory and cognition, processes that are often
perturbed in schizophrenics. Another SNP is in the transcription
factor 4 (TCF4) gene on chromosome 18, which is involved in brain
development. Five of the SNPs are located very closely together in
the Major Histocompatibility Complex, a region on chromosome 6
densely packed with genes regulating immune response. This lends
support to previous research suggesting a possible environmental
link between schizophrenia immune response. It has long been known,
for example, that a disproportionately large number of
schizophrenics are born in the winter and spring, when influenza
rates are usually highest. All of the variants found in this study
are very common and each is associated with a modest increase in
risk. "Genetics offers a unique window for better understanding
diseases like schizophrenia because the brain and cognition are so
little understood and so difficult to study. Discoveries such as
these are crucial for teasing out the biology of the disease and
making it possible for us to begin to develop drugs targeting the
underlying causes and not just the symptoms of the disease. One of
the reasons this study was so successful is its unprecendented
size. Pooling our resources has yielded spectacular results, which
is what the participants from three continents hoped for. At the
same time, this study underscores the fact that rare variants may
well carry a significant part of the genetic risk of schizophrenia,
so our next task is to use the ever more affordable sequencing
technologies to find more of them," said Kari Stefansson, CEO of
deCODE and corresponding author on the paper. In the first phase of
the study, the deCODE-led SGENE consortium conducted a genome-wide
scan of more than 300,000 SNPs in a total of 17,000 patients and
controls from England, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy and
Scotland. The 1500 SNPs with the best signal were then analyzed in
11,000 patients and controls from the International Schizophrenia
Consortium (ISC) and the European-American portion of the Molecular
Genetics of Schizophrenia studies (MGS). Twenty-five SNPs with
strong suggestive correlation were then followed up in more than
20,000 patients and controls from the Netherlands, Denmark,
Germany, Hungary, Norway, Russia, Finland and Spain. Bringing
together the results of different consortia established he
association between the the total of seven markers on chromosomes
6, 11, and 18 with increased risk of schizophrenia. Acknowledgments
deCODE and all of the authors would like to thank the participants
who took part in this study and made it possible. The SGENE
consortium and its affiliated groups include deCODE genetics, the
National-University Hospital in Reykjavik, the University of
Aberdeen, the Ravenscraig Hospital in Greenock, the Institute of
Psychiatry at King's College London, the National Public Health
Institute in Helsinki, the Ludwig Maximilians University and
GlaxoSmithKline's Genetic Research Center in Munich, the University
of Copenhagen, the University of Oslo, the University of
Heidelberg, the University of Bonn, the University Medical Center
of Utrecht, Nijmegen Medical Center, the University of Verona, the
Duke University Center for Population Genomics and Pharmacogenetics
and the University of Sichuan, China. Follow up cohorts included
those from Aarhus University, the National Serum Institute, and
Bispebjerg and Glostrup hospitals, Denmark; Semmelweis University,
Budapest; the Mental Health Research Center of the Russian Academy
of Sciences; the Universities of Valencia and Santiago de
Compostela, and the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio
Maranon, Madrid, Spain; The Northern Finland Birth Cohort;
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; Universities of Amsterdam,
Utrecht and Maastricht, the Netherlands. The institutions
comprising the ISC and MGS can be found in papers published
concurrently with the present study in the online edition of
Nature. Funding for the work included in this study was provided by
the European Union through the SGENE consortium
(http://www.sgene.eu/), by grants LSHM-CT-2006-037761,
PIAP-GA-2008-218251, and HEALTH-F2-2009-223423; The U.S. National
Institutes of Health; and the National Genomic Network of Germany.
About deCODE deCODE is a bio-pharmaceutical company developing
drugs and DNA-based tests to improve the treatment, diagnosis and
prevention of common diseases. Its lead therapeutic programs, which
leverage the company's expertise in chemistry and structural
biology, include DG041, an antiplatelet compound being developed
for the prevention of arterial thrombosis; DG051 and DG031,
compounds targeting the leukotriene pathway for the prevention of
heart attack; and DG071 and a platform for other PDE4 modulators
with therapeutic applications in Alzheimer's disease and other
conditions. deCODE is a global leader in human genetics, and has
identified key variations in the genome (SNPs) conferring increased
risk of major public health challenges from cardiovascular disease
to cancer. Based upon these discoveries deCODE has brought to
market a growing range of DNA-based tests for gauging risk and
empowering prevention of common diseases. Through its
CLIA-registered laboratory, deCODE offers deCODE T2(TM) for type 2
diabetes; deCODE AF(TM) for atrial fibrillation and stroke; deCODE
MI(TM) for heart attack; deCODE ProstateCancer(TM) for prostate
cancer; deCODE Glaucoma(TM) for a major type of glaucoma; and
deCODE BreastCancer, for the common forms of breast cancer. deCODE
is delivering on the promise of the new genetics.SM Visit us on the
web at http://www.decode.com/; on our diagnostics site at
http://www.decodediagnostics.com/; for our pioneering personal
genome analysis service and new focused disease scans, integrating
the genetic variants included in these tests and those linked to
another twenty common diseases, as well as for our new deCODEme
Cardio(TM) and deCODEme Cancer(TM) scans, at
http://www.decodeme.com/; and on our blog at
http://www.decodeyou.com/. Any statements contained in this
presentation that relate to future plans, events or performance are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results, and the timing of events, to differ
materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
These risks and uncertainties include, among others, those relating
to our ability to obtain sufficient financing to continue as a
going concern, our ability to develop and market diagnostic
products, the level of third party reimbursement for our products,
risks related to preclinical and clinical development of
pharmaceutical products, including the identification of compounds
and the completion of clinical trials, our ability to form
collaborative relationships, the effect of government regulation
and the regulatory approval processes, market acceptance, our
ability to obtain and protect intellectual property rights for our
products, dependence on collaborative relationships, the effect of
competitive products, industry trends and other risks identified in
deCODE's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including, without limitation, the risk factors identified in our
most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any updates to those
risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. deCODE undertakes no
obligation to update or alter these forward-looking statements as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contacts:
deCODE genetics Edward Farmer +44-7796-010107 Gisli Arnason
+354-570-1900 Joy Bessenger +1-212-481-3891 DATASOURCE: DeCODE
Genetics Inc CONTACT: Contacts: deCODE genetics, Edward Farmer,
+44-7796-010107, . Gisli Arnason, +354-570-1900, . Joy Bessenger,
+1-212-481-3891,
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