Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Four Types of Schizophrenia May Have Been Identified

For many years researchers have said that they believe that the brain disorder known as schizophrenia is actually a number of different disorders all grouped under a single label because of similar symptoms. In the past researchers have not been able to prove this theory, but now a London-based company has some intriguing evidence that may move research forward in this area. The company is called Curidium Medica PLC and it announced recently that it believes it has found four "unique and statistically significant" subgroups of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients based on their gene expression profiles which may lead to a new drug development.

Using its Homomatrix gene analysis technologies, Curidium analyzed the gene expression profiles of post-mortem brains of 64 schizophrenic/bipolar disorder patients and matched controls. These expression profiles were the result of a genome-wide screening of more than 22,000 gene probes (conducted by the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Centre). Each patient/control was a member of only one of the four subgroups and each subgroup was associated with a unique and finite number of genes. Furthermore, the differences between the subgroups were statistically significant. The genes identified in each subgroup include known and novel drug targets - so the research suggests the possibility that new medications could be developed to address these different classifications of schizophrenia.

In the company press release Dr. Anne Bruinvels, CEO of Curidium Medica plc, stated that "Schizophrenic and bipolar disorder patients are often very difficult to treat effectively", and "The identification of distinct patient subgroups with highly significant differences in gene expression profiles could lead to the development of more effective and targeted products."

The Company is in the process of analyzing a second set of gene expression data from the post-mortem brains of a separate and different group of patients and controls to confirm these findings. Additional research by independent third parties will need to be done to confirm this line of research.

More information, see the company web site: www.curidium.com