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An international study, of Spanish researchers, identified a dozen genes contributing to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and developed the first genetic map . ] of this pathology.
In the work published Monday by the journal Nature Genetics, more than 80 authors from 60 research centers participated, including researchers from the University of Barcelona (UB), Hospital Vall d'Hebron, the University of Barcelona. Mutua Terrbada Hospital and the Barcelona World Health Institute (ISGlobal).
Research badyzed about ten million genome positions on more than 50,000 people from different European countries, United, Canada and China.
As a result of this badysis, which is the world's first genomic-scale study of ADHD, researchers identified twelve concrete DNA fragments related to ADHD. With susceptibility to this pathology, which is one of most common psychiatric disorders of childhood and adolescence and affects about 5% of children and 2.5% of adults. [19659003] ADHD is characterized by attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior and limits the personal and social capacities of those affected.
Combination of factors
Of unknown origin, all indications are that ADHD is the result of the combination of environmental factors (toxicological, psychosocial, etc.) with a polygenic hereditary basis (which would explain approximately 75% of the disorder).
The work, conducted by Harvard and New York (USA) and Aarhus (Denmark) universities, focused on studying the role of common genetic variants in the general population in this field. trouble.
The study found that common genetic variants "have a total of 21% of the total genetics of ADHD," as Bru Cormand, head of the neurogenetics research group at the Faculty of Medicine, explains. biology of UB.
"In addition, he added, identified genetic alterations are found in areas of the genome that are highly conserved throughout evolution, indicating their functional relevance."
In particular, the research identified twelve genomic segments ten of which correspond to specific genes, which confer susceptibility to ADHD and discovered that many genetic changes related to this disorder affect regulatory elements of the disease. gene expression in the brain.
Genetic Map
Among the identified fragments highlights the gene FOXP2 – one of the most studied in relation to the development of language in humans – which encodes a protein that plays a leading role in protein formation. Neural Inapsis and Learning.
FOXP2 had previously been identified as a candidate gene for ADHD in a 2012 study of several Spanish authors who repeated in this new work and who is now one of the few genes cited in the literature. This new genetic map of ADHD appears again
Another of the identified genes, DUSP6, is involved in the control of dopaminergic neurotransmission target process of pharmacological treatments plus
A third gene, SEMA6D, which is expressed in the brain during embryonic development, could also play a role in the formation of neuronal branches.
shared genetic basis between ADHD and more than 200 traits, psychiatric or otherwise.
According to Cormand, "the results reveal genetic overlaps between ADHD and major depression, anorexia, educational level, obesity, reproductive success, smoking or insomnia ".
According to Cormand, "this study reinforces, against some negationist voices, the idea of ADHD is a solid biological-based disorder in which genetics has a lot to say."
The Catalan researcher pointed out "the importance of promoting large-scale studies that are only possible through large international consortia exploring the genetic basis of complex brain diseases."
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