Comprehensive intermediate phenotypes analysis in unaffected siblings of schizophrenia patients

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K19784
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Kanazawa Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Kazutaka OHI 金沢医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (70629203)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 統合失調症 / 非罹患第1度近親者 / 中間表現型 / 遺伝子 / 認知機能 / 脳構造 / 社会機能 / QoL

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a common and complex psychiatric disorder with a high estimated heritability of approximately 80%. Family, twin, and adoption studies of SCZ have indicated that the risk of occurrence is increased approximately 10-fold in first-degree relatives (FR) including siblings of SCZ. The FR is useful in investigating intermediate phenotypes, such as cognitive function, brain imaging, neurophysiological function, for SCZ because the FR would not be affected by duration of illness, severity or medication.
In this research, we investigated differences in cognitive function, brain structure, social function and quality of life (QoL) among SCZ, FR and healthy subjects to identify prominent intermediate phenotypes for SCZ. We found that attention, anterior cingulate cortex volumes, interpersonal relationship and psychosocial QoL would be useful intermediate phenotypes for SCZ to understand the pathophysiology implicated in SCZ.

Free Research Field

精神医学