WASHINGTON, D.C.: A new study on the epigenetics of lactose intolerance may provide an approach to understanding schizophrenia and other complex, serious illnesses.
Both lactose intolerance and schizophrenia are inherited. In addition, neither condition emerges in the first years of life, but rather both appear years or even decades later, says senior author Dr. Arturas Petronis, Head of the Krembil Family Epigenetics Laboratory in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
The study showed that a combination of genetics and epigenetics – factors that turn genes on or off – could explain how lactose intolerance develops over time. These basic principles can be applied to the study of more complex mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or Alzheimer’s disease. All these conditions also have DNA risk factors but take decades before clinical symptoms develop, says Dr. Petronis, who also is the Tapscott Chair in Schizophrenia Studies at the University of Toronto….