Scientists from the University of Bergen and the University of Oslo have found that irritable bowel syndrome shares genetic risk factors with psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar and anxiety disorders. The research was published in the journal Genome Medicine.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a gastrointestinal disease that affects 10% of people worldwide. Symptoms include abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea. During the examination, doctors often do not find obvious signs of pathology, so it was assumed that the disease may have a psychosomatic nature.
In the new study, the scientists used data from more than 50,000 IBS patients and hundreds of thousands of healthy people. They were able to find 116 new DNA sequences associated with this disorder.
They found that IBS has 70 genes that are also associated with mental illness. Seven patients with generalized anxiety disorder, 35 with depression, 27 with bipolar disorder and 15 with schizophrenia.
The scientists noted that some studies have shown that inflammation in the intestines can lead to disruption of the intestinal barrier and the entry of waste products into the bloodstream. This, in turn, can reduce the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, which protects the circulatory system of the brain from the rest of the body. Perhaps this mechanism could explain the link between the gut and mental illness.
The authors hope that their results may lead to experimental studies that will allow the development of treatments for IBS.
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