Epigenetics and Genetics of Schizophrenia

Abstract

Millions of people around the world suffer from schizophrenia and the resulting delusions, social withdrawal and other symptoms. All of these symptoms have treatments available such as anti-psychotics and therapy. However, these treatments are merely symptomatic and do not address the root of the disorder. The treatments can dull the impact of the symptoms of schizophrenia but cannot treat the disorder itself, therefore more effective treatments must be offered. Schizophrenia is an extremely heritable disorder, so genetics, as well as epigenetics, plays a crucial role in the prevalence and severity of the disorder. Studying the epigenetics and genetics of schizophrenia can help to gain a more thorough understanding of the disorder to help develop and test treatments that aren’t just symptomatic. There have been various studies searching for parts of the genome that could play a role in an individual’s likelihood to develop schizophrenia and gene therapy could be used to edit these parts of the genome. Epigenetics refers to the alteration in how one’s body reads the genome using histone modification. Although there is minimal research in the area and as a result, there are also no treatments currently being researched or tested, epigenetic treatments have the potential to become a revolutionary treatment for schizophrenia. However, considering the lack of knowledge and research surrounding epigenetics, currently, genetic treatment has more likelihood of being a useful treatment in the near future. Nonetheless, increased research about epigenetics and genetics can help create more treatments to help those suffering from this disorder.