Biology,  Borderline Personality Disorder,  Resources

Possible Genetic link in BPD?

From Science Daily:

Possible Genetic Causes Of Borderline Personality Disorder Identified

ScienceDaily (Dec. 20, 2008) — According to the National Institute of Mental Health, borderline personality disorder (BPD) is more common than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and is estimated to affect 2 percent of the population. In a new study, a University of Missouri researcher and Dutch team of research collaborators found that genetic material on chromosome nine was linked to BPD features, a disorder characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image and behavior, and can lead to suicidal behavior, substance abuse and failed relationships.

“The results of this study hopefully will bring researchers closer to determining the genetic causes of BPD and may have important implications for treatment programs in the future,” said Timothy Trull, professor of psychology in the MU College of Arts and Science. “Localizing and identifying the genes that influence the development of BPD will not only be important for scientific purposes, but will also have clinical implications.”

In an ongoing study of the health and lifestyles of families with twins in the Netherlands, Trull and colleagues examined 711 pairs of siblings and 561 parents to identify the location of genetic traits that influences the manifestation of BPD. The researchers conducted a genetic linkage analysis of the families and identified chromosomal regions that could contain genes that influence the development of BPD. Trull found the strongest evidence for a genetic influence on BPD features on chromosome nine.

In a previous study, Trull and research colleagues examined data from 5,496 twins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia to assess the extent of genetic influence on the manifestation of BPD features. The research team found that 42 percent of variation in BPD features was attributable to genetic influences and 58 percent was attributable to environmental influences, and this was consistent across the three countries. In addition, Trull and colleagues found that there was no significant difference in heritability rates between men and women, and that young adults displayed more BPD features then older adults.

“We were able to provide precise estimates of the genetic influence on BPD features, test for differences between the sexes, and determine if our estimates were consistent across three different countries,” Trull said. “Our results suggest that genetic factors play a major role in individual differences of borderline personality disorder features in Western society.”

2 Comments

  • Sunshine4Shadows

    I wonder, what would have more impact. If my biological mother had BPD, and since i was adopted and never knew her, but BPD came thru anyway, or if my adoptive mother had BPD (i’m beginning to wonder about her behavior) and i was exposed to it.

    Nature vs. Nurture?

  • John Lucas

    I did a PhD in history and philosophy of science, focusing specifically on the history and sociology of attempts to find genetic and biological explanations for complex behaviors (disorders or otherwise). I wanted to make a few comments about this paragraph:

    “The results of this study hopefully will bring researchers closer to determining the genetic causes of BPD and may have important implications for treatment programs in the future,” said Timothy Trull, professor of psychology in the MU College of Arts and Science. “Localizing and identifying the genes that influence the development of BPD will not only be important for scientific purposes, but will also have clinical implications.”

    First, it’s important to point out IMO that research based on genetic linkage analysis has never produced a therapy for any illness, whether that illness be a simple genetic disease (ie one mutated gene causes the disease) like Huntington disease or cystic fibrosis, or something more complex (ie many genes plus the environment are involved), like cancer. All modern treatments and even ongoing cutting edge clinical research for these diseases, are based on other molecular biological studies, not linkage analysis.

    Second, the only medical use of the results of genetic linkage studies so far is to identify and diagnose people. Most of the time, such “genetic testing” can only indicate a probability of having a disease (with the exception of simple genetic diseases).

    Third, diagnosing people in the absence of a treatment has questionable value. Historically it’s pretty much always been problematic and often morally questionable–in the early 20th century, people were diagnosed as “feeble-minded” and put into institutions. Typically the one thing they did have in common is that they were poor or non-white. This practice (called eugenics–the use of biology to segregate people deemed genetically unfit) continued in some form until the 1940s.

    Modern diagnosis for untreatable conditions is typically performed in the prenatal setting with the goal of terminating the pregnancy. In terms of parental choice and abortion rights I personally believe that this is fair and helpful, but I want to point out that it is not what anybody would consider a medical treatment to help somebody with a disease. So the article’s argument that genetic linkage studies “may have important implications for treatment programs in the future” (and there have been thousands of such news articles saying exactly the same thing) is completely unsupportable, IMO, by any past or current evidence.

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