Anorexia nervosa was associated for the first time with a region of the genome, thanks to the DNA analysis of 3,500 patients.
It’s a first. Researchers at the University of North Carolina (United States) have identified a gene involved in anorexia nervosa which could be linked to the metabolic mechanisms of this potentially fatal disease.
Cohort studies have already identified genes associated with behaviors or psychiatric disorders often present in anorexia. However, no gene clearly linked to this pathology had yet been demonstrated.
This time, the researchers went to great lengths by carrying out thegenetic study the most powerful leadership to date on this disease. They have indeed analyzed the DNA of the entire genome of nearly 3,500 people with anorexia nervosa and 11,000 other non-patients.
Metabolic factors
The US team identified an anorexia nervosa locus on chromosome 12, in a region previously known to be associated with type 1 diabetes and autoimmune diseases. They also calculated genetic correlations – that is, how different disorders are caused by the same genes. They discovered that anorexia nervosa is genetically correlated with neurosis and schizophrenia, which supports the idea that anorexia nervosa is really a psychiatric illness.
More unexpectedly, the study’s authors also found strong genetic correlations with various metabolic characteristics such as body composition, body mass index, and insulin-carbohydrate regulatory mechanisms. This latest finding encourages researchers to take an in-depth look at how metabolic factors increase the risk of anorexia.
They are therefore continuing their work by increasing the size of their samples, because considering anorexia nervosa as both a psychiatric disease and a metabolic disorder could lead to the development of new drugs to treat a disease for which none currently exist.
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