No causal link?
Commenting on the study, Rifaat El-Mallakh, MD, director of the mood disorders research program, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of Louisville (Ky.), called it an “excellent study performed by an excellent research group” that “fills an important lacuna in our research database.”
However, Dr. El-Mallakh, who was not involved in the research, disagreed that the findings show causality. “The data that can be gleaned from this study is limited and the design has significant limitations. As with all genetic studies, this is an association study. It tells us nothing about the cause-effect relationship between the genes and the illness.
“We do not know why genes are associated with the illness. Genetic overrepresentation can have multiple causes, and more so when the data is a convenience sample. As noted by the authors, much of what they observed was probably related to medication effect. I don’t think this study specifically tells us anything clinically,” he added.
The study was supported by the LIBD, the BrainSeq Consortium, an National Institutes of Health fellowship to two of the authors, and a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation to one of the authors. Dr. Weinberger has reported no relevant financial relationships. Dr. El-Mallakh declared no specific financial relationships relevant to the study but has reported being a speaker for several companies that manufacture antipsychotics.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.