Do We Have a Better Handle on Genes in Bipolar Disorders?

In the 1000 original reports and 40 review papers on the genetics of bipolar disorder, scientists have detected only 16 favored chromosomal regions, and linkage analyses have identified only 5 positive linkages meeting stringent criteria. Further, of some surprise, overlapping genetic regions have been described for bipolar illness and schizophrenia. Several reports suggest that the gene complex G72/G30, located on chromosome 13q33, may be the first one truly associated with bipolar disorder. In family studies, mild bipolar illness has been linked to chromosomal region 18q22, whereas psychotic and more severe forms have been linked to chromosomal regions 13q31 and 22q11.

These researchers performed a genome scan of 540 genotyped individuals …