AstraZeneca to use DNA samples from Chinese schizophrenia patients

[nick@aseed.antenna.nl]

-----------------------
genet-news mailing list
-----------------------

Study probes mental illness
By David Pilling, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
Financil Times - 11 April 200

AstraZeneca is to use DNA samples collected from
thousands of Chinese schizophrenia patients in an effort
to throw more light on the genetic underpinnings of
mental illness. 

Drug companies are scrambling to find collections of
blood and tissue samples taken from specific groups of
patients as they seek to link tiny genetic variations with
different clinical diseases. 

China is thought to be a rich source of genetic information because of 
the relative
homogeneity of its population. This makes it easier for scientists to 
pinpoint small
genetic mutations implicated in disease. 

The country is also thought to have a rich vein of largely untapped 
scientific
research. 

After months of negotiations, the Anglo-Swedish company yesterday 
signed a
collaboration agreement with Shanghai's Jiaotong university, which has 
one of the
world's biggest collections of DNA extracted from schizophrenia patients. 

The company will seek permission from Chinese authorities to ship 
some of the
DNA samples from the university's freezers to its Alderley Park research 
site in
Macclesfield, Cheshire. 

Hugh Salter, who is leading the project from AstraZeneca's side, said the 
breadth
and size of the Chinese collection was unique. It contained samples from
extended and nuclear families where schizophrenia was prevalent, as 
well as
control samples from unrelated patients. 

Mr Salter said there could be 2-10 or more genes involved in 
schizophrenia, each
subtly interacting with each other and with environmental and social 
triggers. An
identical twin of someone with schizophrenia was 48 times more likely to 
have the
disease, he said. 

"We are trying to identify genes, minor variations in which contribute to 
the
aetiology (cause) of the disease." 

http://tm0.com/ft/sbct.cgi?s=70726260&i=328093&d=1304407