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Lithium is very effective in some patients with bipolar disorder, but a larger number of patients require treatment with other mood stabilizers. Researchers examined genetic predictors of lithium response in two genome-wide association studies of a total of 2563 patients with bipolar spectrum disorders and on lithium monotherapy; patient data were collected by a 22-site consortium.
Medication response was assessed by a validated scale revealing response both dichotomously (poor vs. good) and continuously. Genotyping results were combined by meta-analysis.
Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in two genes on chromosome 21, in an area linked to long noncoding RNAs, predicted response dimensionally. Under the dichotomous definition, findi…