BRAVE NEW WORLD –
April 6 – These same variants can then also be linked to the measured levels of a biomarker in blood.
For example, a variant in a particular gene may increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and also be linked to a decrease in the levels of a vitamin circulating in the blood. Most of these variants are individually associated with very small changes in something like risk of a mental illness, but they may add together to produce larger effects. To take one example, there was a positive genetic correlation in our study between white blood cell count and depression. This could indicate some process in our body influences both depression and white blood cells.
If we could identify what this shared process is, it could lead to a better understanding of what causes depression and this could be targeted for treatment. Correlation verses causality. Our study showed there was correlation between the genetics of mental illness and factors in the blood, but this does not tell us whether blood biomarkers are involved in what causes mental illness. We found evidence some substances measured in blood may actually be involved in the cause of some mental illnesses. Proteins related to the immune system, for example, may be involved in depression, schizophrenia, and anorexia.
Further work is now needed to identify how these blood measures are precisely involved in these disorders, and to find out if they can be targeted for treatment.
