Identifying Culprit Genes
In the past fifteen years, genetic researchers have located seven different genetic mutations they associate with OCD. It is believed one or more of these genetic “mistakes” make children and adolescents more susceptible to OCD triggers in the environment. Most of this genetic research has focused on a specific mutation in the human serotonin supporter gene, named hSERT, found to an unusually high degree in unrelated family members with OCD, as reported in a 2003 study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In the same NIH study, a second mutation in this same hSERT gene found in the same patients appeared to correlate with more severe OCD symptoms in those individuals. Interviews done with family members of those found to have this particular “double hit” of two mutations on the hSERT gene revealed that six out of every seven patients had a second anxiety disorder in addition to OCD, primarily anorexia nervosa, Asperger's syndrome, social phobia, or substance abuse.
Question?
What is a tic?
Tics are involuntary, repetitive speech patterns or physical movements including twitches, eye rolling, and head tilting associated with the neurobiological disorder known as Tourette's syndrome. Speech-related tics can cause a child to make repeated, involuntary comments or outbursts. Children with OCD are at a higher risk of developing tics.
The sum total of genetic research done thus far suggests that rather than a single gene expressing its DNA to create OCD, it is more likely that several genes participate in creating smaller effects. These effects then combine to cause a predisposition to OCD, with varying degrees of severity dependent on specific genetic combinations and nongenetic triggers. This is a rapidly changing field as government and privately funded brain research continues at a frenetic pace at several of the nation's leading research institutions.
