Gene therapy for psychiatric disorders

Abstract

There is no indication that gene therapy can be applied in psychiatric patients any time soon. However, there are several promising developments on the level of experimental neuroscience indicating that gene therapy approaches have an effect in animal models of several psychiatric disorders including drug addiction, affective disorders, psychoses and dementia, modifying behavioural parameters via interventions on the molecular and cellular level. However, before gene therapy in psychiatric disorders can be considered on the human level, not only neurobiological and technical problems need to be overcome, but also important ethical questions answered.

Key words::

• Addiction
• alzheimer disease
• depression
• ethics
• gene transfer
• molecular neuroscience
• psychiatry
• psychiatric treatment
• psychopharmacology
• psychosis
• schizophrenia

Acknowledgements

None.

Statement of Interest

JT has received financial support which was also partially used for this paper, from the following pharmaceutical companies: AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen-Cilag, Lilly, Lundbeck, MEDICE, Merz, Novartis, Pfizer, Servier, Shire.