Schizophrenia Study Finds Cause Could be Linked to Genomic Protein C4

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Scientists are moving closer to understanding the cause of schizophrenia. In a statement released on Wednesday, scientists may have found a gene that could a raise a person's risk to develop the disorder.

NBC News reports that scientists found a potential factor that could increase the development of schizophrenia. This is the first study, published in the journal of Nature,  to provide tested insight into the nature of any common psychiatric disorder.

UPI reports that researchers at Harvard Medical School analyzed DNA data from 28,799 people with schizophrenia and 35,986 people without it. The researchers found a greater presence of a complement 4 gene or C4 gene. They found that these genes can increase a person's risk by about 30 percent over that of the general population.

The gene is linked to a normal process that occurs in adolescence and early adulthood. Early adulthood is the time when the brain sheds weak or redundant connections between neurons (synapse) as it matures. This takes place in the section of the brain where thinking and planning skills are concentrated.

Researchers found that, as more C4 protein gets activated in their brains, the higher the risk they develop the disease, according to UPI. The researchers found evidence that the gene that poses the most risk for schizophrenia is also the most active in the brain. The tests conducted on mice revealed that, as C4 gene gets more active during adolescence or early adulthood, the more synapse gets eliminated.

When the brain trims back too many synapses, this could trigger the disorder in combination with other factors. This also explains why symptoms often appear during adolescence or early adulthood.

The finding may not lead to new treatments, but it could provide researchers a platform for understanding the root cause of the disease.

However, this "over-pruning" doesn't cause the disease alone, reports NBC. However, the new finding certainly links C4 with previous studies saying that patients' brains show unusually few synapse.

Experts find the new finding interesting and highly probable, but not totally convincing, reports NBC. However, if proven true, this could lead scientists to find drugs that could intervene with C4 gene.

Almost 1 percent of the general population is said to have schizophrenia at some of point of their lives. They may hear voices or hallucinate, talk about strange ideas and exhibit paranoia. This can be given to young people who are at risk developing the disorder early on. This could prevent the disorder from getting worse.

To know more about schizophrenia, check out the video below: