Grant: Project Grant

Major affective or non-affective disorders such as schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder(BP) affect around 2% of the population. The human and financial costs to society are enormous even more so considering that available treatments are rarely curative. Heredity plays a major role in the development of SCZ and BP which means that, when variations occur in groups of genes, the likelihood of developing the disease increases. Indeed, no single gene is responsible for the disease but variations in multiple genes will act together and increase the global risk of illness. The complexity of identifying specific genes involved is further complicated by the clinical manifestations of these disorders which differ from one individual to the other. For almost 30 years, our research team have gathered a sample of nearly 1300 members from 48 well-characterized multigenerational families from Eastern Quebec that are densely affected by SCZ or BP. This cohort include individuals affected with SCZ and BP, nonaffected adult relatives and high-risk offspring that have been followed through the years. New technologies are now available that allow us to draw a more precise portrait of the genetic variations of an individual. Using these technologies, we will compare small genetic variations between affected, non-affected and high-risk individuals. The results obtained through this first set of analyses will be confirmed in another cohort of children born to an affected parent. If successful, this project will allow a better understanding of the genetic causes of SCZ and BP, a genetic-based indicator for early detection and management of high-risk offspring and an improved classification of patients based on genetic variations in order to personalize and optimise treatments.