The genetic factors that contribute to schizophrenia can vary, making it difficult to pinpoint which DNA changes are the main culprits. Large genome-wide studies provide the most reliable clues yet. Schizophrenia is a chronic., debilitating illness with both neurological and psychiatric features, and it affects an estimated 1% of the world's population. Intense research into this disorder clearly points to the involvement of a significant genetic component, but genetic studies of schizophrenia have generally been disappointing as the data obtained often cannot be reproduced1. This lack of progress in understanding the genetic aspects of schizophrenia - which perhaps partially reflects challenges in diagnosis - is mainly due to the genetic heterogeneity among patients; many different genes might be involved in the disorder, but in a given family perhaps just one or a few of these genes mediate schizophrenia. Furthermore, previous studies have tended to be of limited statistical power and suboptimal design. Reporting in this issue, Stefansson et al. and the International Schizophrenia Consortium show that genome-wide studies of thousands of patients not only can confirm the association between previously identified genetic loci and the disease, but can also identify new loci.
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