The team from the QIMR Berghofer medical research institute discovered genes linked to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Lead researcher Professor Eske Derks said scientists had examined the activity or expression of those 70 genes, along with another 261 genes that had already been linked to mental illness.
“The important finding is that we now have a better understanding of what these genes are doing in patients with a mental health disorder,” Professor Derks said.
“Are these genes too active or maybe not active enough in the patient?
Photo: Professor Derks says more research is needed to develop genetic testing for mental illness. (Supplied: QIMR Berghofer)
“So what we want to do next, and what will be one of our future studies, is to see if there’s any existing drugs that target these genes that we have now found — if they can normalise the activity of these genes and hopefully make the patients better.”
Professor Derks said genetic links to mental illness have been known for several years, but more research was needed to develop genetic testing.
“This is not something that we have enough information on now,” she said.
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“But in the future, you could imagine that you could take a whole blood sample, and that you would measure the expression levels of the genes that we have now identified, and see which genes are different compared to healthy people, and look at that and see if there’s any treatment that would work really well for this specific patient, based on this genetic profile.
“There’s a lot of stigma surrounding mental health disorders and again our findings show that genetic risk factors play a large role and that these disorders have a biological component.”
Brothers do worldwide motorbike trek for research
In 2017, Dylan Reid completed a 100,000-kilometre around-the-world motorbike trek with his brother Lawson to raise money for mental health research at QIMR Berghofer.
Their sister Heidi Reid suffered from a major depressive disorder and took her own life in 2011.
The brothers spent two-and-a-half years traveling through 50 countries and raised almost $100,000.
Mr Reid said findings like this had made the journey worthwhile.
“It’s a real buzz for my family to see QIMR Berghofer just continuing to make these little breakthroughs — that’s what the endeavour was all about for us,” he said.
Mr Reid said he hoped continued research in this field would lead to earlier intervention for patients and their families.
“You can actually get on top of it before its ugly head emerges,” Mr Reid said.
The research was carried out in collaboration with Vanderbilt University and the University of Amsterdam.
The findings have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.