55. Association of novel brain immune genes with cognitive functions and brain morphology of inbred mice: Novel biomarker for neuropsychiatric diseases

Mounting evidences have demonstrated the association of altered immune factors with neurodevelopmental and pathological progression of complex neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia and autism. To better understand the immune-mediated mechanisms underlying these diseases, we initially analyzed the canonical proinflammatory cytokines Il1b, Il6, and Tnf expression in C57BL/6N and DBA/2J mouse strains, and simultaneously compared social behaviors between those two stains. To achieve deeper immune-related mechanisms, we further chose eight inbred male mouse strains (129S1/SvImJ, A/J, BALB/cByJ, C3H/HeJ, C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, FVB/NJ, and SJL/J), and studied their brain gene expression profiles, along with immune-gene-associated behaviors and brain morphology by bioinformatics approaches, using brain microarrays, behavioral and physiological data and methods provided by public databases. We also validated the differential expressions of a few of these predicted immune genes in C57BL/6N and DBA/2J mouse strains.