The predictive value of genetic risk factors may be useful in screening before the disease manifests itself clinically, and implementation of interventions to lower, adjust the hours of regular sleep and way of life that can act as a deterrent to the environment for the development of bipolar disorder. Closer monitoring intervention and early treatment may be useful for people who are at increased risk.‘Overcoming complex disorders: Prediction of genetic risk in bipolar disorder use of panels of genes identified by Convergent Functional Genomics’, Patel SD, Le-Niculescu H, Koller DL, Green SD, Lahiri DK, McMahon FJ, Nurnberger JI, Niculescu and AB. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B (Neuropsychiatric Genetics). 2010. Epub April 9.

‘The genes explain a small part of the risk of developing the disease,’ said Dr. Niculescu. ‘Unlike some genetic predisposition to diseases such as Huntington’s disease, variations in genes that may predispose people with mood disorders are present in all of us that we learn is that you can take a combination of differences in gene -. ‘

Genetic testing can rise to a new level with the results of the Indiana University School of Medicine researchers that the ‘prototype’ for the laboratory tests appear today in the online edition of the Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics.

‘This is an important step in developing a prototype for laboratory tests for bipolar disorder, and can serve as a model to develop in other complex diseases,’ said lead author Alessandro B. Niculescu III, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Medical School of Medicine and director of the IU IU INBRAIN Psychiatric Research Institute.

In an editorial in the Journal of Medical Genetics, Dr. Alexander B. Niculescu and Dr. Helen Le-Niculescu advocate for a more efficient way to identify genes involved in mental disorders.

The study included Sagar D. Patel, Dr Helen Le-Niculescu, Dr. Green, Dr. K. Debomoy Lahiri, Dr. Francis J. McMahon and Dr. John I. Nurnberger, Jr.

The analysis has led to a prediction of genetic risk score that indicates a high or low potential to develop bipolar disorder. ‘The coupling of a high score with some environmental factors may be predictive, not a certainty that the individual develops a bipolar disorder,’ said Dr. Niculescu, who is also a staff psychiatrist Indianapolis Roudebush VA Medical Center.