Elevated anticardiolipin antibodies in schizophrenic patients before and during neuroleptic medication.

The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of IgG and IgM anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) in schizophrenic patients and to determine the relation of aCL levels with neuroleptic medication and psychotic symptoms. Twenty-three patients with acute episodes of chronic schizophrenia, drug-free for at least 3 months before entering the study, were tested for aCL at admission (T1) and 42 days (T2) after neuroleptic treatment started. Blood samples were taken from 20 healthy volunteers as well.

Case-control association study of 65 candidate genes revealed a possible association of a SNP of HTR5A to be a factor susceptible to bipolar disease in Bulgarian population.

Background: Bipolar affective disorder (BAD) is a psychiatric illness characterized by episodes of mania and depression. Although the etiology is not clear, epidemiological studies suggest it is a result of an interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Despite of enormous efforts and abundant studies conducted, none has yet been identified definitively a gene susceptible to bipolar disorder.

Case-control association study of 59 candidate genes reveals the DRD2 SNP rs6277 (C957T) as the only susceptibility factor for schizophrenia in the Bulgarian population.

The development of molecular psychiatry in the last few decades identified a number of candidate genes that could be associated with schizophrenia. A great number of studies often result with controversial and non-conclusive outputs. However, it was determined that each of the implicated candidates would independently have a minor effect on the susceptibility to that disease.

Association analysis of the HOPA12bp polymorphism in schizophrenia and manic depressive illness.

Variations in exon 42 of the HOPA (human opposite paired) gene have been associated with mental retardation, hypothyroidism and psychiatric disorders. We attempted to replicate the association with schizophrenia using 309 parent-offspring trios from Bulgaria and 367 unrelated cases and 368 blood donors from the UK. We also tested 125 bipolar trios from Bulgaria, 112 bipolar trios from the UK and a sample of 178 unrelated bipolar cases and 188 blood donors from the UK.