Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2022 Feb;213:173335. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2022.173335. Epub 2022 Jan 13.
The issue of genetic influence on schizophrenia has received considerable attention. The DISC1 gene has been shown in several studies to play a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, the relationship between DISC1 mRNA expression vs. schizophrenia and its clinical symptoms is uncertain.
Fifty-six subjects (32 patients with schizophrenia and 24 healthy controls) were enrolled. Peripheral blood was obtained from all subjects to exam the DISC1 mRNA expression. Schizophrenia patients were evaluated with Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) scales. Healthy subjects were assessed with HAMD scale.
Patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower levels of the DISC1 mRNA expression than the healthy control (P = 0.002). We also found that lower DISC1 mRNA levels in schizophrenia patients were associated with higher degree of depression in HAMD (P = 0.037), severer positive symptoms in PANSS (P = 0.032) and more negative symptoms in SANS (P = 0.038).
The results showed that schizophrenia patients had lower levels of DISC1 mRNA than healthy individuals, and that the schizophrenia patients with lower DISC1 mRNA levels were more likely to manifest more marked symptoms, including positive, negative, and depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that lower DISC1 expression may be related with the pathogenesis and phenotypes of schizophrenia. Future studies are needed to replicate the results and to further establish its potential role in clinical application of early diagnosis and outcome follow-up.
遗传对精神分裂症的影响问题受到了相当多的关注。几项研究表明，DISC1 基因在精神分裂症的病理生理学中起作用。然而，DISC1 mRNA 表达与精神分裂症及其临床症状之间的关系尚不确定。
纳入了 56 名受试者（32 名精神分裂症患者和 24 名健康对照者）。所有受试者均采集外周血以检测 DISC1 mRNA 表达。使用汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HAMD）、阳性和阴性综合征量表（PANSS）、简明精神病评定量表（BPRS）和阴性症状评定量表（SANS）评估精神分裂症患者，使用 HAMD 量表评估健康对照者。
精神分裂症患者的 DISC1 mRNA 表达水平明显低于健康对照组（P=0.002）。我们还发现，精神分裂症患者 DISC1 mRNA 水平较低与 HAMD 中抑郁程度较高（P=0.037）、PANSS 中阳性症状较重（P=0.032）以及 SANS 中阴性症状更严重（P=0.038）相关。
研究结果表明，精神分裂症患者的 DISC1 mRNA 水平低于健康个体，而 DISC1 mRNA 水平较低的精神分裂症患者更可能表现出更明显的症状，包括阳性、阴性和抑郁症状。这些发现提示，DISC1 表达降低可能与精神分裂症的发病机制和表型有关。未来的研究需要重复这些结果，并进一步确定其在早期诊断和预后随访的临床应用中的潜在作用。
