Gene hunters find rare inherited mutations linked to bipolar disorder
The investigators say their study is one of the first of rare genetic variations in people with bipolar disorder, which, in contrast to most previous studies of common variation, can provide a more direct insight into the biology underlying the susceptibility to bipolar disorder. And the report on the work published on June 1 in JAMA Psychiatry , led by Fernando Goes, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, affirms the need for DNA from a vast patient population to definitively confirm the role of rare mutations identified using the most advanced genome sequencing techniques. "One thing we learned is that it will take genetic data from at least several thousand more people with bipolar disorder to confirm that these rare mutations do in fact directly cause the disease," says Goes. "We are working with the Bipolar Sequencing Consortium to gather more data and collaborators so we can definit...