The Gene that tells us if stimulants will work for our ADHD

A few days ago I wrote about genetic testing for ADHD.  I wrote that very soon we would go to our doctor's office, the lab tech or nurse would take a swab of the inside of our cheek and a week later we would not only have a diagnosis but we would also have an answer regarding what type of treatment would work best for us.

Yesterday in the Journal Molecular Psychiatry, the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland released a paper where they reported that they had discovered a gene that not only made individuals susceptible to ADHD but that also forecasted a positive response to stimulant medication.

According to the journal, studies performed on over 2500 individuals with ADHD and over 2500 controls revealed that the LPHN3 gene is "expressed in key brain regions related to attention and activity, affect metabolism in neural circuits implicated in ADHD, and are associated with response to stimulant medication."

Today, most patients with inattentive ADHD are tried on stimulant medication.  In many patients, the medication helps tremendously but in others it provides no therapeutic effect.  A test for this gene would give us information regarding the likely response to stimulants or other medications.

As hard as it is for me to believe, there are still people who doubt the existence of ADHD.  They blame parents for not discipline their children and think that we have made up a disease because of our unwillingness to hold our children accountable for their actions.  There are other people who feel that stimulant medicine is poison that does not provide any medically needed change in the brain of individuals with ADHD.

I am so excited and grateful for the studies that have come out of the genome project as each of these studies will move us closer to a lab test that will provide 'proof' that a diagnosis of ADHD is real but more importantly it will allow for the appropriate treatment of thousands of people affected by the symptoms of ADHD.  

A few days ago I wrote about genetic testing for ADHD.  I wrote that very soon we would go to our doctor's office, the lab tech or nurse would take a swab of the inside of our cheek and a week later we would not only have a diagnosis but we would also have an answer regarding what type of treatment would work best for us.

Yesterday in the Journal Molecular Psychiatry, the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda Maryland released a paper where they reported that they had discovered a gene that not only made individuals susceptible to ADHD but that also forecasted a positive response to stimulant medication.

According to the journal, studies performed on over 2500 individuals with ADHD and over 2500 controls revealed that the LPHN3 gene is "expressed in key brain regions related to attention and activity, affect metabolism in neural circuits implicated in ADHD, and are associated with response to stimulant medication."

Today, most patients with inattentive ADHD are tried on stimulant medication.  In many patients, the medication helps tremendously but in others it provides no therapeutic effect.  A test for this gene would give us information regarding the likely response to stimulants or other medications.

As hard as it is for me to believe, there are still people who doubt the existence of ADHD.  They blame parents for not discipline their children and think that we have made up a disease because of our unwillingness to hold our children accountable for their actions.  There are other people who feel that stimulant medicine is poison that does not provide any medically needed change in the brain of individuals with ADHD.

I am so excited and grateful for the studies that have come out of the genome project as each of these studies will move us not  only closer to a lab test that will provide 'proof' that a diagnosis of ADHD is real but more importantly it will allow for the appropriate treatment of thousands of people affected by the symptoms of ADHD.

 

The scientific pace quickens and it seems that the future is now!