Project Summary

Stephan Eliez, M.D. (Young Investigator 2002) of Geneva University, will attempt to identify genetic risk factors and brain changes associated with schizophrenia among subjects with del22q11 (a deletion on chromosome 22 which affects physical and cognitive development in 1 of 4000 children).  Subjects with del22q11 are at high risk for psychiatric disturbance, and twenty-five percent of affected subjects develop schizophrenia by adolescence or adulthood.  Dr. Eliez believes that subjects with maternal origin of del22q11 will have a higher frequency of schizophrenia compared to paternal del22q11, and that subjects with maternal del22q11 will show reductions of total cerebrum gray, temporal lobe gray, and hippocampal volumes, similar to subjects with schizophrenia.  Further, he believes subjects with the deletion and COMT will show alterations in brain structures in brain structures that concur with published MRI data from samples of persons with schizophrenia and with the changes observed with the group of subjects with schizophrenia.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia\Child/Adolescent (Early Onset)

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