Project description:Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are severe psychiatric conditions, with a lifetime prevalence of about 1%. Both disorders have a neurodevelopment component, with onset of symptoms occurring most frequently during late adolescence or early adulthood. Genetic findings indicate the existence of an overlap in genetic susceptibility across the disorders. These gene expression profiles were used to identify the molecular mechanisms that differentiate SZ and BP from healthy controls but also that distinguish both from healthy individuals. They were also used to expand an analysis from an experiment that searched molecular alterations in human induced pluripotent stem cells derived from fibroblasts from control subject and individual with schizophrenia and further differentiated to neuron to identify genes relevant for the development of schizophrenia (GSE62105). Brain tissue (frontal cortex) from 30 healthy controls, 29 bipolar disorder patients and 29 schizophrenia patients were analyzed. The reference is an in-house pool of RNA extracted from 15 human cell lines.
Project description:This study examined the miRNA expression level in exosomal derived from the plasma of first episode schizophrenia (FOS) patients and Healthy controls (HC), and explored the the potential of exosomes as biomarkers for schizophrenia. This study examined the lncRNA expression level in exosomal derived from the plasma of first episode schizophrenia (FOS) patients and Healthy controls (HC), and explored the the potential of exosomes as biomarkers for schizophrenia. This study examined the mRNA expression level in exosomal derived from the plasma of first episode schizophrenia (FOS) patients and Healthy controls (HC), and explored the the potential of exosomes as biomarkers for schizophrenia.
Project description:Schizophrenia is best considered a “two-hit” disease, with a neurodevelopment impairment followed by an additional process in early adulthood. Both are regulated by hormonal (like thyroid and retinols) and signal transduction pathways (like WNT), which in turn have been previously identified in post-mortem brain studies of schizophrenic individuals. While brain studies are fitted for pathology assessment, there are not suitable for searches of a “diagnostic signature” of schizophrenia. In contrast, peripheral blood is easily accessible, and can be used for the study of disease pathways and potentially diagnosis markers. Blood from twenty eight males with DSM-IV schizophrenia under three drug regimens (clozapine, risperidone or haloperidol), and from 10 healthy controls was studied in a microarray platform with 1364 genes belonging to hormonal and signal transduction pathways. Seven genes were differentially expressed between controls and patients with different treatments, and 28 between healthy controls and specific treatments, with four (CTNNA1, GSTM3, HOXA-13 and KRT18) altered in all analyses. While none of these genes has been previously reported in schizophrenia brain studies, many belong to pathways altered in schizophrenia, belonging to chromosomal loci linked to the disease, which warrants additional replication studies to be performed in larger samples.
Project description:Purpose of study is revealing significant differences in serum proteomes in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (BD), and matched healthy controls. The sample preparation included affinity removing of six major proteins, separation by 1D electrophoresis, in-gel tryptic hydrolysis, and LC-MS/MS peptide analysis using LTQ Orbitrap Velos mass spectrometer. When comparing proteome profiles, different unique protein sets were revealed (absent in other groups): 22 proteins typical for schizophrenia, and 20 – for BD. Protein set in schizophrenia was mostly associated with nucleic acid and protein metabolism, immune response, cell communication, and cell growth and maintenance. Protein set in BD was mostly associated with cell growth and maintenance, nucleic acid metabolism regulation, immune response, protein metabolism, transport and cell communication. Concentrations of ankyrin repeat domain-containing protein 12 (ANKRD12), coagulation factor XIII, and cadherin 5 in serum samples were determined by ELISA. Significant difference between three groups was revealed in ANKRD12 concentration (p=0.02), with maximum elevation of ANKRD12 concentration (median level) in schizophrenia followed by BD. Cadherin 5 concentration differed significantly (p=0.035) between schizophrenic patients with prevailing positive symptoms (4.78 [2.71;7.12] ng/ml) and those with prevailing negative symptoms (1.86 [0.001;4.11] ng/ml). Our results are presumably useful for discovering the new pathways involved in endogenous psychotic disorders.
Project description:To identify morphological and functional phenotypes relevant for SCZ, we generated iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons from three healthy controls and four patient with schizophrenia. We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from RNA-seq of four schizophrenia patients and three controls to determine significantly deregulated genes in schizophrenia dopaminergic neurons.
Project description:Schizophrenia is a chronic disease characterized by the impairment of mental functions with a marked social dysfunction. A proteomic approach using iTRAQ labeling and selected reaction monitoring, applied to the characterization of mitochondria (MIT), crude nuclear fraction (NUC) and cytoplasm (CYT), can allow the observation of dynamic changes in cell compartments providing valuable insights concerning schizophrenia physiopathology. Mass spectrometry analyses of the orbitofrontal cortex from 12 schizophrenia patients and 8 healthy controls identified 655 protein groups in MIT fraction, 1500 in NUC and 1591 in CYT. We found 166 groups of proteins dysregulated among all enriched cellular fractions. Through the quantitative proteomic analysis, we detect as the main biological pathways those related to calcium and glutamate imbalance, cell signaling disruption of CREB activation, axon guidance and proteins involved in the activation of NF-kB signaling along with the increase of complement proteins C3. Based on our data analysis, we suggest the activation of NF-kB as a possible pathway that links the deregulation of glutamate, calcium, apoptosis and the activation of the immune system in schizophrenia patients
Project description:Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder. Another study in BD has shown an aberrant pro-inflammatory status of monocytes/macrophages. Therefore, this study aimed at studying the monocyte compartment in schizophrenia, by transcription profiling of CD14+ monocytes in patients and controls.