Stassen
Fakultäten » Medizinische Fakultät » Psychiatrische Universitätsklinik » Affektive Erkrankungen und Allgemeinpsychiatrie Zürich Ost, Klinik für » Prof. Dr. Erich Seifritz » Stassen
Current research project
| Title / Titel | European Twin Study Network on Schizophrenia (EUTwinsS) | ||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | This project aims at modeling the complex interplay between genetic and non-genetic factors, as observed with schizophrenic illnesses. The strongest evidence for the involvement of genetic factors comes from studies of monozygotic (mz) and dizygotic (dz) twins reared together. In fact, no more than 55% of mz twin pairs are concordant for schizophrenic disorders even though they share a common genome. Since this concordance rate is as low as 15% among dz twins, the question arises as to why mz co-twins brought up in the same environment have a 3.7-fold higher risk to both suffer from the illness compared to dz co-twins. Focus lies on molecular-genetic Neural Networks (NN) under inclusion of (nonlinear) interactions between genomic loci and between gene products. The method of approach involves (1) detailing the specifics on the phenotype level by means of quantitative syndromes; (2) the inclusion of endophenotypes, such as brain wave patterns (EEG), the poly-specific immunoglobulin M level (IgM), or medical comorbidities; and (3) adapting the NN algorithms to the specific requirements of psychiatric genetics where one has to deal with incomplete and distorted information. First results indicate that mz twin pairs discordant for schizophrenic disorders may possess a more robust immune system compared to the concordant pairs in whom exogenous factors can more easily trigger the onset of the illness. (Marie Curie Action) Weitere Informationen |
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| Publications / Publikationen | Umbricht D, Koller R, Schmid L, Skrabo A, Grübel C, Huber T, Stassen HH: How specific are deficits in mismatch negativity generation to schizophrenia? Biol Psychiatry 2003; 53: 1120-1131Weisbrod M, Hill H, Sauer H, Niethammer R, Guggenbühl S, Stassen HH: Nongenetic pathologic developments of brain-wave patterns in monozygotic twins discordant and concordant for schizophrenia. Am J Med Genetics B 2004; 125: 1-9Buckelmüller J, Landolt HP, Stassen HH, Achermann P: Trait-like individual differences in the human sleep EEG. Neuroscience 2006; 138: 351-356Weitere Informationen | ||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
EU |
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| In collaboration with / In Zusammenarbeit mit |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Apr 2007 to Apr 2012 |