The Genetics of Response to and Side Effects of Lithium Treatment in Bipolar Disorder: Future Research Perspectives.

ABSTRACT: Although the mood stabilizer lithium is a first-line treatment in bipolar disorder, a substantial number of patients do not benefit from it and experience side effects. No clinical tool is available for predicting lithium response or the occurrence of side effects in everyday clinical practice. Multiple genetic research efforts have been performed in this field because lithium response and side effects are considered to be multifactorial endophenotypes. Available results from linkage and segregation, candidate-gene, and genome-wide association studies indicate a role of genetic factors in determining response and side effects. For example, candidate-gene studies often report GSK3β, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and SLC6A4 as being involved in lithium response, and the latest genome-wi

SUBMITTER: Senner F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8044839 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature