Open AccessGenetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder
Author(s) -
Abhishek Purty,
Gerald Nestadt,
Jack Samuels,
Biju Viswanath
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
indian journal of psychiatry/indian journal of psychiatry
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.485
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1998-3794
pISSN - 0019-5545
DOI - 10.4103/psychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_518_18
Subject(s) - genome wide association study , heritability , candidate gene , twin study , genetic association , epigenetics , missing heritability problem , serotonergic , biology , psychology , genetics , neuroscience , gene , genetic variants , single nucleotide polymorphism , genotype , receptor , serotonin
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been seen to run in families and genetics help to understand its heritability. In this review, we summarize older studies which focused on establishing the familial nature of OCD, including its various dimensions of symptoms, and we focus on recent findings from studies using both the candidate gene approach and genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach. The family studies and twin studies establish the heritability of OCD. Candidate gene approaches have implicated genes in the serotonergic, glutamatergic, and dopaminergic pathways. GWAS has not produced significant results possibly due to the small sample size. Newer techniques such as gene expression studies in brain tissue, stem cell technology, and epigenetic studies may shed more light on the complex genetic basis of OCD.