Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6824676 | Schizophrenia Research | 2014 | 7 Pages |
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a severe mental health disorder with high heritability. The investigation of individuals during their first-episode psychosis (FEP), before the progression of psychotic disorders and especially before treatment with antipsychotic medications, is particularly helpful for understanding this complex disease and for the identification of potential biomarkers. In this study, we compared the expression of genes that are involved in neurotransmission and neurodevelopment of antipsychotic-naive FEP in the peripheral blood of patients (n = 51) and healthy controls (n = 51). In addition, we investigated the differentially expressed genes with respect to a) DNA methylation, b) the correlation between gene expression and clinical variables (PANSS), and c) gene expression changes after risperidone treatment. Expression levels of 11 genes were quantified with SYBR Green. For methylation analysis, bisulfite sequencing was performed. A significant decrease in GCH1 mRNA levels was observed in FEP patients relative to controls. Also, when we compare the FEP patients after risperidone treatment with controls, this difference remains significant, and no significant differences were observed in GCH1 mRNA levels when comparing patients before and after risperidone treatment. Additionally, although the differences were non-significant after Bonferroni correction, the expression of GCH1 seemed to be correlated with PANSS scores, and the GCH1 promoter region was more methylated in FEP than in controls, thus corroborating the results obtained at the mRNA level. Few studies have been conducted on GCH1, and future studies are needed to clarify its potential role in the progression of schizophrenia.
Keywords
RELNSCIDPANSSGCH1actin, betaTSPOBH4GTP cyclohydrolase IReelinNRG1translocator protein (18 kDa)b2mHPRT1ABATFEPCHRNEGTP cyclohydrolase 1glutamic acid decarboxylase 67ribosomal protein L13AqPCRmRNACatechol-O-methyltransferaseHKGGAPDHBiopterinCOMTGad67RPL13A4-aminobutyrate aminotransferaseSchizophreniaribonucleic acidRNAgamma-aminobutyric acidBeta-2-microglobulinGene expressionSerial analysis of gene expressionSAGEmessenger ribonucleic acidFirst-episode psychosisActbstructured clinical interview for DSM-IVpositive and negative syndrome scaleneuregulin 1Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase 1polymerase chain reactionquantitative polymerase chain reactionPCRthreshold cycleHousekeeping genesGABAglyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
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Authors
Vanessa Kiyomi Ota, Cristiano Noto, Ary Gadelha, Marcos Leite Santoro, Leticia Maria Spindola, Eduardo Sauerbronn Gouvea, Roberta Sessa Stilhano, Bruno Bertolucci Ortiz, Patricia Natalia Silva, João Ricardo Sato, Sang Won Han, Quirino Cordeiro,