Studies on candidate genes for lithium prophylactic efficacy performed at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences

Lithium is a drug of choice as a mood-stabilizer for the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). The prophylactic efficacy of lithium can be determined by genetic factors, partially related to a predisposition to bipolar disorder. In the field of psychiatric genetics, the first decade of the 21st century was dominated by the "candidate gene" research. In this paper, the studies on candidate genes associated with lithium prophylaxis performed at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences in 2005-2018 are presented. During this time, the polymorphisms of multiple genes have been investigated, many of which are also associated with a predisposition to bipolar disorder. The associations with lithium prophylactic efficacy were found for the polymorphisms in 5HTT, ACP1, ARNTL, BDNF, COMT, DRD1, FKBP5, FYN, GLCC, NR3C1, and TIM genes, but not those in 5HT2A, 5HT2C, DRD2, DRD3, DRD4, GRIN2B, GSK-3 ss, MMP-9, and NTRK2 genes. The polymorphism of the GSK-3 ss gene was found to be associated with the kidney side-effects occurring during lithium therapy. Possible roles for these genes in both the mechanism of lithium prophylactic efficacy and pathogenesis of bipolar disorder were discussed.