Once unrelated, genes link bipolar, schizophrenia
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — When Chastity Murry had her first psychotic break, she went into her bathroom and downed a whole bottle of pills, hoping to die. Her teenage daughter had to perform CPR to save her life.
Around that same time more than a decade ago, the man who would become her husband, Dante Murry, also lost touch with reality and considered suicide.
Different illnesses led them down similar paths — bipolar disorder in her case and schizoaffective disorder in his — conditions long considered by many to be distinct and unrelated.
But a growing body of research shows that bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and the in-between diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder share common genetic underpinnings as well as overlapping symptoms and signs.
“They can be considered as part of a spectrum,” said Dr. Morgan Sheng, who co-directs a psychiatric research center at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Bipolar disorder is known for causing extreme mood swings. Schizophrenia is characterized by delusions, hallucinations and disordered thinking. Schizoaffective disorder includes symptoms of both.
The theory that they exist on a continuum has gained ground as more and more studies have found that variations in some of the same genes influence how susceptible people are to those conditions. One of the latest examples is the AKAP11 gene, which scientists at Broad and elsewhere pinpointed as a strong risk factor for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in research published in the journal Nature Genetics this year.
Experts say those insights will help doctors better understand what drives the illnesses, how they affect the body’s most notoriously bewildering organ and what more can be done to help people. Down the road, experts envision the research could help guide treatment and lead to better drugs. For now, they hope it reinforces the idea that such disorders are biologically rooted and not moral failings or mysterious, unknowable conditions.
“That’s what the science is giving us — a clear indication that there are genetic markers and risk factors,” said Dr. Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
The Murrys — who met through the alliance and married in 2020 — hope the research provides answers for them and so many others with mental illness who they’ve gotten to know. With they help of doctors and one another, they are keeping their disorders in check and have found purpose helping others in similar straits.