Researchers have taken a significant step towards finding the origins of schizophrenia, a mental disorder capable of affecting how a person thinks and behaves. A study published in 27 January edition of journal Nature has provided some clues that can help in understanding cause behind the psychiatric disorder.

The US has more than two million individuals who have diagnosis of schizophrenia. There are some effective drugs to treat the disorder, but most of them don’t treat the underlying cause. Now, researchers hope the new findings could help in making treatments that can treat schizophrenia completely.

The clues provided by the study include why the severe mental disorder usually begins in adolescence or young adulthood. Steven McCarroll, author of the study and director of genetics for the Broad Institute's Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, said every individual goes through ‘synaptic pruning’ while moving into adulthood.

“Somehow, this biological process becomes miscalibrated and removes too many synapses. Something about this process of maturation, if it goes awry, results in brain wiring that can no longer perform some of the basic functions that it used to be able to perform”, McCarroll, an associate professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, added.

As per the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), people suffering from schizophrenia usually report about hearing voices and seeing thing that are not there in real. Some patients can also show disorganized thinking. Most of the people develop schizophrenia symptoms when they are teen, NIMH explained.

For the study, the researchers implicated C4 gene, which is known for acting as a regulator of the immune system, said McCarroll. The gene provides help in targeting viruses and debris for destruction by immune cells, the researcher added.