| Abstract |
The aim of this study was to analyze gene expression in blood of patients with newly-diagnosedschizophreniaduring their first psychotic episode and subsequent remission. Whole blood samples were obtained from 32 untreated patients presenting with their first psychotic episode suggestive ofschizophrenia和32岁- c的准确性ontrols. Using Affymetrix micoarrays, we identified significantly altered expression of 180 gene probes in psychotic patients compared to controls. A subset of four significantly changed genes was further confirmed with QRT-PCR. The following genes were significantly altered in patients: glucose transporter, SLC2A3 (p<0.001) and actin assembly factorDAAM2(p<0.001) were increased, whereas translation, zinc metallopeptidase, neurolysin 1 and myosin C were significantly decreased (p<0.05). Expression of these candidate markers was also analyzed in a longitudinal study (12-24 months) in 12 patients who achieved full remission. Interestingly, expression ofDAAM2returned to control levels in patients who were in remission after their first psychotic episode, suggesting that its expression correlates with diseases progression and/or response to treatment. In summary, we identified changes of gene expression from peripheral blood which might help discriminate patients withschizophreniafrom controls. While these results are promising, especially forDAAM2whose polymorphic variants have been found significantly associated withschizophrenia, it will be important to analyze larger cohorts of patients in order to firmly establish changes in gene expression as blood markers ofschizophrenia. |