It's a cliché, but it's true - "schizophrenia genes" are the Holy Grail of modern psychiatry.
Were they to be discovered, such genes would provide clues towards a better understanding of the biology of the disease, and that could lead directly to the development of better medications. It might also allow "genetic counselling" for parents concerned about their children's risk of schizophrenia.
Perhaps most importantly for psychiatrists, the definitive identification of genes for a mental illness would provide cast-iron proof that psychiatric disorders are "real diseases", and that biological psychiatry is a branch of medicine like any other. Schizophrenia, generally thought of as the most purely "biological" of all mental disorders, is the best bet.
With this in mind, let's look at three articles (1,2,3) published in Nature last month to much excited fanfare along the lines of 'Schizophrenia genes discovered!' All three were based on genome-wide association studies (GWAS). ...
