Researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia are hopeful that a new molecular discovery may lead to more specialised therapies for bipolar disorder.
Since the discovery of lithium’s mood-stabilizing properties in 1949, it has been considered the gold standard and main treatment for bipolar disorder. However, there is a broad range in how patients react to lithium; only roughly one-third experience significant improvement, another 30% have moderate improvement, and more than 25% experience little to no effect.
Since there is currently no trustworthy biomarker to identify which patients may react favourably to lithium, doctors must prescribe it based on trial and error.
“Genetic factors account for about 25 per cent of the inter-individual variability in lithium treatment response,” explained NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow Associate Professor Azmeraw Amare, Adelaide Medical School.
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“Tapping into this knowledge may offer new hope for developing personalised treatment strategies for patients receiving lithium.”
In recent years, there has been a lot of attention placed on the genetic connections that are associated with disease. This may be a result of developments in technology as well as an increase in the amount of knowledge in the field of genetics. Key genetic differences were found in the anterior and posterior regions of the hippocampus, according to a study that investigated the genetic factors that influence mood disorders in the hippocampus.
Researchers found that individuals with bipolar disorder who had a higher concentration of genetic variants in pathways related to acetylcholine, calcium channels, GABA, or circadian rhythms were more likely to show a positive response to lithium treatment than those who had lower concentrations. The findings of this study appeared in the journal Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science. On the other hand, a more extensive genetic presence of variations in the mitochondrial route was associated with a lithium response that was less favourable.