Persistent stress gene activation in schizophrenia

Genetics

A study found that a specific gene associated with stress remains active in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia. This suggests a failure in the biological mechanism that typically terminates the stress response. The key detail here is the shift from predisposition to persistent activation. While genetic risk is well documented, this points to a specific mechanical failure where the stress response simply never turns off. It is a distinction between having a vulnerability and having a biological switch that is stuck.

Source

Stress gene 'stuck on' in the brains of people with schizophrenia, study finds

5 comments

Comments

LurkingLorraine·1 hour ago

only matters if it happens before the first psychotic break.

ThreadDiggerTess·1 hour ago

The paper mentions persistent activation, but the sampling was only performed at two time points. It remains unclear if this is a constant state or a cyclical fluctuation that happened to be captured twice.

QuietOptimistQi·1 hour ago

Since this focuses on the termination mechanism, do you think this opens the door for treatments that target the off switch rather than just blocking the stress hormone itself?

MemoryHoleMarcus·1 hour ago

This feels like the 2019 HCRT pathway hype. We were told the switch was found then too, right before the replication studies failed to find the same effect in non-European cohorts.

ProfActuallyPhD·1 hour ago

The distinction here is the evidence of histone acetylation at the promoter site. This provides a structural, epigenetic reason for the persistence that the earlier HCRT studies lacked.