The genetics of the adverse effects of risperidone

Risperidone is a drug that treats behavior issues. These may include anger, a bad temper, being anxious or self-harm behavior. It is often given to 10-17 year olds with schizophrenia, mania or bipolar disease. The drug also helps with the symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome and autism. Changes in genes can affect the proteins they make. Some changes make the protein work better. Other changes reduce how well the protein works. A few may cause the protein to not work at all. We have proteins that help us process drugs. If a change is harmful to one of these proteins, it may take longer to process the drug. That means it stays in your body longer. This can cause problems, or side effects. For young people taking risperidone, gaining weight is one of these side effects. There are also other side effects. Other proteins help drugs get to where they need to go in the body. Changes in these proteins may make side effects worse or better. Researchers at Vanderbilt will use BioVU to study side effects of risperidone. Changes in one of the proteins that process risperidone may cause weight gain. Changes may also cause other side effects. They will look for young people who took this drug. They will look for a link between gene changes and weight gain in that group. They will also look for gene changes that affect other proteins. They will look for a similar link between gene changes and weight gain. The results of this study will help us learn more about risperidone treatment. We will learn why some young people gain weight when they take risperidone. We will also learn about other side effects. It might also help us better treat their symptoms without this side effect.