My girlfriend may have Schizophrenia in
her genes. Her father shows no signs and
never has, but her aunt and uncle on his
side of the family both suffer from
Schizophrenia. The only other family
member she knows of who had the disease
was her great uncle on her fathers side.
She has never had any signs of the disease
and her brother and sister are also
perfectly normal. First question, can you
validate the statement we have heard that
Schizophrenia tends to skip generations?
This would put her children at risk.
Second question, what are the chances or
her developing the disease later in life
if she has never had a problem in 25
years? Third question, is it possible to
screen her genes for the potential that
her children will develop Schizophrenia
before she gets pregnant? Having children
with the disease is a serious and
legitimate concern for her as well as her
brother and sister. Any information you
can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
|
DoctorAnswer
Doctor Answer
Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 16777211
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Schizophrenia Answer A28 Posted: 12-28-05 22:42pm
ONE of the risk-factors for schizophrenia
is that someone in the family has
developed the disease. Many other factors
than genetic factors are involved in its
pathogenesis (traumas, infections, social
environment). Having a genetic risk-factor
for schizophrenia, however, does not
necessarily mean that your girlfriend or
her progeny will develop the disease
automatically. Genetically, a fetus must
inherit the “schizophrenic” genes from
its parent(s). This may/may not happen
because a fetus receives only half of the
father’s and half of the mother’s
genes (23 chromosomes each). If
“schizophrenic” genes are not among
the randomly chosen halves, they won’t
be inherited. If “schizophrenic”
genes are among those that form the fetus,
they will be inherited.
It is important to note that sometimes
“schizophrenic” genes are not
inherited at all. Instead, genes can
become mutated from normal genes during
the early stages of embryogenesis.
Persons who carry “schizophrenic”
genes don’t have the illness
automatically, but only a predisposition
to have it. Schizophrenia is not a simple,
inheritable illness where only a presence
of “schizophrenic” genes is enough for
developing the disease. That’s why there
are a lot of patients with schizophrenia
who don’t have any relatives who have
also been diagnosed with the disease...
and a lot of people who don’t develop
schizophrenia although they do have
relatives with schizophrenia.
About your questions; I can’t validate
the statement about “skipping
generations” because I couldn’t find
any reliable data to confirm this.
Statistically, there are less chance that
people over 25 will develop schizophrenia.
Even if you screen her genes and find
“schizophrenic” genes, there are no
guarantees that she or her children
will/won’t develop schizophrenia.
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