The genetic basis of schizophrenia

• Schizophrenia runs in families:

  There is evidence that schizophrenia runs in families, and so appears to have a genetic basis. Gottesman (1991) demonstrated a positive correlation between the increasing genetic similarity of family members and their increased risk of developing schizophrenia. Concordance rates for monozygotic twins was 48%.
• Candidate genes:

  Ripke et al. (2014) carried out a huge study combining all previous data from genome-wide studies of schizophrenia. The genetic make up of 37,000 people diagnosed with schizophrenia was compared to 113,000 controls; 108 genetic variations were associated with increased risk of schizophrenia.