Genetic Mechanisms of Biomarkers in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Depression

Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression have a lifetime prevalence of more than 1%, leading to a severe disease burden and loss of disability-adjusted life years. Although they are both brain diseases, their current diagnoses rely entirely on symptom-based criteria. The existing DSM and ICD classification systems lack reliable validity. They have great clinical heterogeneity, which means similar clinical symptoms have different genetic backgrounds, and cannot reflect the pathophysiological changes of mental diseases. Meanwhile, the use of clinical diagnosis as a genetic phenotype in molecular studies often leads to different results. The findings of the Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) widely identifies the problem of the missing heritability.

This Research Topic focuses on the study of biomarkers and molecular genetics in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It aims to summarize the current state of knowledge on this issue and to cover:

-identification of the structural and functional brain abnormalities using neuroimaging techniques (DTI, VBM and fMRI) and neuroelectrophysiology in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression;

-detection of genome variations in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder;

-integrated analysis of genetic and biomarkers of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder;

-the study of cross-disease biological markers of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders for the goal of cross-diseases diagnosis,

-explore the biological subtypes of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, providing a theoretical basis for the research domain criteria (RDoC).

This Research Topic of Frontiers in Psychiatry welcomes the submission of manuscripts either describing Original Research or reviewing the scientific literature, including Systematic Reviews and meta-analyses.