Schizophrenia risk increases 10-fold with genetic mutation - Medical News Today

The rare duplication in PAK7 increases the risks of developing schizophrenia or bipolar disorder more than 10-fold.According to the authors, the PAK7 gene family promotes growth and maintenance of brain connections in a pathway that is regulated by a previously known risk gene, called DISC1.
Both DISC1 and PAK7 interact with each other at the synapse level, the researchers say, which suggests that PAK signaling helps maintain synaptic networks - a mechanism that may play a role in development of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

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