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Kong L, Chen Y, Shen Y, Zhang D, Wei C, Lai J, Hu S. Progress and Implications from Genetic Studies of Bipolar Disorder. Neurosci Bull 2024:10.1007/s12264-023-01169-9. [PMID: 38206551 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-023-01169-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
With the advancements in gene sequencing technologies, including genome-wide association studies, polygenetic risk scores, and high-throughput sequencing, there has been a tremendous advantage in mapping a detailed blueprint for the genetic model of bipolar disorder (BD). To date, intriguing genetic clues have been identified to explain the development of BD, as well as the genetic association that might be applied for the development of susceptibility prediction and pharmacogenetic intervention. Risk genes of BD, such as CACNA1C, ANK3, TRANK1, and CLOCK, have been found to be involved in various pathophysiological processes correlated with BD. Although the specific roles of these genes have yet to be determined, genetic research on BD will help improve the prevention, therapeutics, and prognosis in clinical practice. The latest preclinical and clinical studies, and reviews of the genetics of BD, are analyzed in this review, aiming to summarize the progress in this intriguing field and to provide perspectives for individualized, precise, and effective clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingzhuo Kong
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Yiqing Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Yuting Shen
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Danhua Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Chen Wei
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China
| | - Jianbo Lai
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- The Key Laboratory of Mental Disorder Management in Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- Brain Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- Zhejiang Engineering Center for Mathematical Mental Health, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- Department of Neurobiology, NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, School of Brain Science and Brian Medicine, and MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-machine Integration, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
| | - Shaohua Hu
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- The Key Laboratory of Mental Disorder Management in Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- Brain Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- Zhejiang Engineering Center for Mathematical Mental Health, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
- Department of Neurobiology, NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, School of Brain Science and Brian Medicine, and MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-machine Integration, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310003, China.
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2
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Petruso F, Giff A, Milano B, De Rossi M, Saccaro L. Inflammation and emotion regulation: a narrative review of evidence and mechanisms in emotion dysregulation disorders. Neuronal Signal 2023; 7:NS20220077. [PMID: 38026703 PMCID: PMC10653990 DOI: 10.1042/ns20220077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotion dysregulation (ED) describes a difficulty with the modulation of which emotions are felt, as well as when and how these emotions are experienced or expressed. It is a focal overarching symptom in many severe and prevalent neuropsychiatric diseases, including bipolar disorders (BD), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and borderline personality disorder (BPD). In all these disorders, ED can manifest through symptoms of depression, anxiety, or affective lability. Considering the many symptomatic similarities between BD, ADHD, and BPD, a transdiagnostic approach is a promising lens of investigation. Mounting evidence supports the role of peripheral inflammatory markers and stress in the multifactorial aetiology and physiopathology of BD, ADHD, and BPD. Of note, neural circuits that regulate emotions appear particularly vulnerable to inflammatory insults and peripheral inflammation, which can impact the neuroimmune milieu of the central nervous system. Thus far, few studies have examined the link between ED and inflammation in BD, ADHD, and BPD. To our knowledge, no specific work has provided a critical comparison of the results from these disorders. To fill this gap in the literature, we review the known associations and mechanisms linking ED and inflammation in general, and clinically, in BD, ADHD, and BD. Our narrative review begins with an examination of the routes linking ED and inflammation, followed by a discussion of disorder-specific results accounting for methodological limitations and relevant confounding factors. Finally, we critically discuss both correspondences and discrepancies in the results and comment on potential vulnerability markers and promising therapeutic interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alexis E. Giff
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Beatrice A. Milano
- Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy
- University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | | | - Luigi Francesco Saccaro
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Psychiatry, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland
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3
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Zandi PP, Jaffe AE, Goes FS, Burke EE, Collado-Torres L, Huuki-Myers L, Seyedian A, Lin Y, Seifuddin F, Pirooznia M, Ross CA, Kleinman JE, Weinberger DR, Hyde TM. Amygdala and anterior cingulate transcriptomes from individuals with bipolar disorder reveal downregulated neuroimmune and synaptic pathways. Nat Neurosci 2022; 25:381-389. [PMID: 35260864 PMCID: PMC8915427 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01024-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Recent genetic studies have identified variants associated with bipolar disorder (BD), but it remains unclear how brain gene expression is altered in BD and how genetic risk for BD may contribute to these alterations. Here, we obtained transcriptomes from subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala samples from post-mortem brains of individuals with BD and neurotypical controls, including 511 total samples from 295 unique donors. We examined differential gene expression between cases and controls and the transcriptional effects of BD-associated genetic variants. We found two coexpressed modules that were associated with transcriptional changes in BD: one enriched for immune and inflammatory genes and the other with genes related to the postsynaptic membrane. Over 50% of BD genome-wide significant loci contained significant expression quantitative trait loci (QTL) (eQTL), and these data converged on several individual genes, including SCN2A and GRIN2A. Thus, these data implicate specific genes and pathways that may contribute to the pathology of BP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter P Zandi
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. .,Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Andrew E Jaffe
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.,The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Center for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.,McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Fernando S Goes
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Emily E Burke
- The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Leonardo Collado-Torres
- The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Center for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Arta Seyedian
- The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Yian Lin
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Fayaz Seifuddin
- The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mehdi Pirooznia
- The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Christopher A Ross
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Joel E Kleinman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Daniel R Weinberger
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA.,McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Thomas M Hyde
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. .,The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD, USA. .,Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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4
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Yu X, Yan H, Li W. Recent advances in neuropeptide-related omics and gene editing: Spotlight on NPY and somatostatin and their roles in growth and food intake of fish. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2022; 13:1023842. [PMID: 36267563 PMCID: PMC9576932 DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2022.1023842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Feeding and growth are two closely related and important physiological processes in living organisms. Studies in mammals have provided us with a series of characterizations of neuropeptides and their receptors as well as their roles in appetite control and growth. The central nervous system, especially the hypothalamus, plays an important role in the regulation of appetite. Based on their role in the regulation of feeding, neuropeptides can be classified as orexigenic peptide and anorexigenic peptide. To date, the regulation mechanism of neuropeptide on feeding and growth has been explored mainly from mammalian models, however, as a lower and diverse vertebrate, little is known in fish regarding the knowledge of regulatory roles of neuropeptides and their receptors. In recent years, the development of omics and gene editing technology has accelerated the speed and depth of research on neuropeptides and their receptors. These powerful techniques and tools allow a more precise and comprehensive perspective to explore the functional mechanisms of neuropeptides. This paper reviews the recent advance of omics and gene editing technologies in neuropeptides and receptors and their progresses in the regulation of feeding and growth of fish. The purpose of this review is to contribute to a comparative understanding of the functional mechanisms of neuropeptides in non-mammalians, especially fish.
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5
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Lin R, Lopez JP, Cruceanu C, Pierotti C, Fiori LM, Squassina A, Chillotti C, Dieterich C, Mellios N, Turecki G. Circular RNA circCCNT2 is upregulated in the anterior cingulate cortex of individuals with bipolar disorder. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:629. [PMID: 34893581 PMCID: PMC8664854 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01746-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2021] [Revised: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Gene expression dysregulation in the brain has been associated with bipolar disorder, but little is known about the role of non-coding RNAs. Circular RNAs are a novel class of long noncoding RNAs that have recently been shown to be important in brain development and function. However, their potential role in psychiatric disorders, including bipolar disorder, has not been well investigated. In this study, we profiled circular RNAs in the brain tissue of individuals with bipolar disorder. Total RNA sequencing was initially performed in samples from the anterior cingulate cortex of a cohort comprised of individuals with bipolar disorder (N = 13) and neurotypical controls (N = 13) and circular RNAs were identified and analyzed using "circtools". Significant circular RNAs were validated by RT-qPCR and replicated in the anterior cingulate cortex in an independent cohort (24 bipolar disorder cases and 27 controls). In addition, we conducted in vitro studies using B-lymphoblastoid cells collected from bipolar cases (N = 19) and healthy controls (N = 12) to investigate how circular RNAs respond following lithium treatment. In the discovery RNA sequencing analysis, 26 circular RNAs were significantly differentially expressed between bipolar disorder cases and controls (FDR < 0.1). Of these, circCCNT2 was RT-qPCR validated showing significant upregulation in bipolar disorder (p = 0.03). This upregulation in bipolar disorder was replicated in an independent post-mortem human anterior cingulate cortex cohort and in B-lymphoblastoid cell culture. Furthermore, circCCNT2 expression was reduced in response to lithium treatment in vitro. Together, our study is the first to associate circCCNT2 to bipolar disorder and lithium treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rixing Lin
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada ,grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Juan Pablo Lopez
- grid.419548.50000 0000 9497 5095Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Bavaria 80804 Germany
| | - Cristiana Cruceanu
- grid.419548.50000 0000 9497 5095Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, 80804 Munich, Germany
| | - Caroline Pierotti
- grid.266832.b0000 0001 2188 8502Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM USA
| | - Laura M. Fiori
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada
| | - Alessio Squassina
- grid.7763.50000 0004 1755 3242Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Caterina Chillotti
- Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital Agency of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Christoph Dieterich
- Section of Bioinformatics and Systems Cardiology, Klaus Tschira Institute for Integrative Computational Cardiology, Heidelberg, Germany ,grid.5253.10000 0001 0328 4908Department of Internal Medicine III (Cardiology, Angiology, and Pneumology), University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany ,grid.452396.f0000 0004 5937 5237DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Heidelberg/Mannheim, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nikolaos Mellios
- grid.266832.b0000 0001 2188 8502Department of Neurosciences, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM USA ,Autophagy inflammation and metabolism (AIM) center, Albuquerque, NM USA
| | - Gustavo Turecki
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. .,Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
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6
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Deep transcriptome sequencing of subgenual anterior cingulate cortex reveals cross-diagnostic and diagnosis-specific RNA expression changes in major psychiatric disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology 2021; 46:1364-1372. [PMID: 33558674 PMCID: PMC8134494 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-00949-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Despite strong evidence of heritability and growing discovery of genetic markers for major mental illness, little is known about how gene expression in the brain differs across psychiatric diagnoses, or how known genetic risk factors shape these differences. Here we investigate expressed genes and gene transcripts in postmortem subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC), a key component of limbic circuits linked to mental illness. RNA obtained postmortem from 200 donors diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depression, or no psychiatric disorder was deeply sequenced to quantify expression of over 85,000 gene transcripts, many of which were rare. Case-control comparisons detected modest expression differences that were correlated across disorders. Case-case comparisons revealed greater expression differences, with some transcripts showing opposing patterns of expression between diagnostic groups, relative to controls. The ~250 rare transcripts that were differentially-expressed in one or more disorder groups were enriched for genes involved in synapse formation, cell junctions, and heterotrimeric G-protein complexes. Common genetic variants were associated with transcript expression (eQTL) or relative abundance of alternatively spliced transcripts (sQTL). Common genetic variants previously associated with disease risk were especially enriched for sQTLs, which together accounted for disproportionate fractions of diagnosis-specific heritability. Genetic risk factors that shape the brain transcriptome may contribute to diagnostic differences between broad classes of mental illness.
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7
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A Comprehensive Review on the Role of Non-Coding RNAs in the Pathophysiology of Bipolar Disorder. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22105156. [PMID: 34068138 PMCID: PMC8152970 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22105156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Aim: Bipolar disorder is a multifactorial disorder being linked with dysregulation of several genes. Among the recently acknowledged factors in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder are non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Methods: We searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases to find studies that assessed the expression profile of miRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs in bipolar disorder. Results: Dysregulated ncRNAs in bipolar patients have been enriched in several neuron-related pathways such as GABAergic and glutamatergic synapses, morphine addiction pathway and redox modulation. Conclusion: Altered expression of these transcripts in bipolar disorder provides clues for identification of the pathogenesis of this disorder and design of targeted therapies for the treatment of patients.
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8
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Zhang C, Xiao X, Li T, Li M. Translational genomics and beyond in bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry 2021; 26:186-202. [PMID: 32424235 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-020-0782-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Revised: 05/05/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed multiple genomic loci conferring risk of bipolar disorder (BD), providing hints for its underlying pathobiology. However, there are still remaining questions to answer. For example, discordance exists between BD heritability estimated with earlier epidemiological evidence and that calculated based on common GWAS variations. Where is the "missing heritability"? How can we explain the biology of the disease based on genetic findings? In this review, we summarize the accomplishments and limitations of current BD GWAS, and discuss potential reasons for the "missing heritability." In addition, progresses of research for the biological mechanisms underlying BD genetic risk using brain tissues, reprogrammed cells, and model animals are reviewed. While our knowledge of BD genetic basis is significantly promoted by these efforts, the complexities of gene regulation in the genome, the spatial-temporal heterogeneity during brain development, and the limitations of different experimental models should always be considered. Notably, several genes have been widely studied given their relatively well-characterized involvement in BD (e.g., CACAN1C and ANK3), and findings of these genes are summarized to both outline possible biological mechanisms of BD and describe examples of translating GWAS discoveries into the pathophysiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Zhang
- Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiao Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Tao Li
- Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. .,West China Brain Research Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
| | - Ming Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
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9
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Krebs CE, Ori APS, Vreeker A, Wu T, Cantor RM, Boks MPM, Kahn RS, Olde Loohuis LM, Ophoff RA. Whole blood transcriptome analysis in bipolar disorder reveals strong lithium effect. Psychol Med 2020; 50:2575-2586. [PMID: 31589133 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291719002745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly heritable mood disorder with complex genetic architecture and poorly understood etiology. Previous transcriptomic BD studies have had inconsistent findings due to issues such as small sample sizes and difficulty in adequately accounting for confounders like medication use. METHODS We performed a differential expression analysis in a well-characterized BD case-control sample (Nsubjects = 480) by RNA sequencing of whole blood. We further performed co-expression network analysis, functional enrichment, and cell type decomposition, and integrated differentially expressed genes with genetic risk. RESULTS While we observed widespread differential gene expression patterns between affected and unaffected individuals, these effects were largely linked to lithium treatment at the time of blood draw (FDR < 0.05, Ngenes = 976) rather than BD diagnosis itself (FDR < 0.05, Ngenes = 6). These lithium-associated genes were enriched for cell signaling and immune response functional annotations, among others, and were associated with neutrophil cell-type proportions, which were elevated in lithium users. Neither genes with altered expression in cases nor in lithium users were enriched for BD, schizophrenia, and depression genetic risk based on information from genome-wide association studies, nor was gene expression associated with polygenic risk scores for BD. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that BD is associated with minimal changes in whole blood gene expression independent of medication use but emphasize the importance of accounting for medication use and cell type heterogeneity in psychiatric transcriptomic studies. The results of this study add to mounting evidence of lithium's cell signaling and immune-related mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catharine E Krebs
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Anil P S Ori
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Annabel Vreeker
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Medical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Timothy Wu
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Rita M Cantor
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Marco P M Boks
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Rene S Kahn
- Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Loes M Olde Loohuis
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Roel A Ophoff
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, University California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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10
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Yu H, Villanueva N, Bittar T, Arsenault E, Labonté B, Huan T. Parallel metabolomics and lipidomics enables the comprehensive study of mouse brain regional metabolite and lipid patterns. Anal Chim Acta 2020; 1136:168-177. [PMID: 33081941 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2020.09.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Revised: 09/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Global profiling of the metabolome and lipidome of specific brain regions is essential to understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating brain activity. Given the limited amount of starting material, conventional mouse studies comparing brain regions have mainly targeted a set of known metabolites in large brain regions (e.g., cerebrum, cortex). In this work, we developed a multimodal analytical pipeline enabling parallel analyses of metabolomic and lipidomic profiles from anatomically distinct mouse brain regions starting with less than 0.2 mg of protein content. This analytical pipeline is composed of (1) sonication-based tissue homogenization, (2) parallel metabolite and lipid extraction, (3) BCA-based sample normalization, (4) ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based multimodal metabolome and lipidome profiling, (5) streamlined data processing, and (6) chord plot-based data visualization. We applied this pipeline to the study of four brain regions in males including the amygdala, dorsal hippocampus, nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area. With this novel approach, we detected over 5000 metabolic and 6000 lipid features, among which 134 metabolites and 479 lipids were directly confirmed via automated MS2 spectral matching. Interestingly, our analysis identified unique metabolic and lipid profiles in each brain regions. Furthermore, we identified functional relationships amongst metabolic and lipid subclasses, potentially underlying cellular and functional differences across all four brain regions. Overall, our novel workflow generates comprehensive region-specific metabolomic and lipidomic profiles using very low amount of brain sub-regional tissue sample, which could be readily integrated with region-specific genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data to reveal novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the activity of distinct brain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huaxu Yu
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Campus, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z1, BC, Canada
| | - Nathaniel Villanueva
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Campus, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z1, BC, Canada
| | - Thibault Bittar
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, CERVO Brain Research Center, Québec, G1J 2G3, QC, Canada
| | - Eric Arsenault
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, CERVO Brain Research Center, Québec, G1J 2G3, QC, Canada
| | - Benoit Labonté
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, CERVO Brain Research Center, Québec, G1J 2G3, QC, Canada
| | - Tao Huan
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Campus, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z1, BC, Canada.
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11
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Squassina A, Niola P, Lopez JP, Cruceanu C, Pisanu C, Congiu D, Severino G, Ardau R, Chillotti C, Alda M, Turecki G, Del Zompo M. MicroRNA expression profiling of lymphoblasts from bipolar disorder patients who died by suicide, pathway analysis and integration with postmortem brain findings. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2020; 34:39-49. [PMID: 32241689 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2020.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2019] [Revised: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Post-mortem brain studies suggest that miRNAs may be involved in suicide, but their role as peripheral biomarkers or targets of preventive pharmacological treatments in suicide has yet to be elucidated. We used nCounter miRNA Expression assay to measure miRNAs expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) who died by suicide (SC, n = 7) and with low risk of suicide (LR, n = 11). Five miRNAs were differentially expressed in SC compared to LR (false discovery rate p<0.05). The two most significant miRNAs were measured with RT-qPCR in the same sample and in 12 healthy controls (HC): miR-4286 was increased while miR-186-5p was decreased in SC compared to LR and HC (ANOVA F = 14.92, p = 0.000043 and F = 3.95, p = 0.032 respectively). miR-4286 was also decreased in postmortem brains from 12 patients with BD who died by suicide compared to 13 controls, even though it did not reach statistical significance (FC=0.51, p = 0.07). Treatment with lithium of human neural progenitor cells reduced the expression of miR-4286 (FC=0.30, p = 0.038). Pathway analysis on predicted miR-4286 targets showed that "insulin resistance" was significantly enriched after correction for multiple testing. This pathway comprised 17 genes involved in lipid and glucose metabolism, several of which were also dysregulated in postmortem brains from patients with BD who died by suicide from the Stanley-foundation array collection. In conclusion, our study suggests that miR-4286 could be a biomarker of suicide but further studies are warranted to investigate its targeted genes and how these could be involved in the neurobiology of suicide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessio Squassina
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy.
| | - Paola Niola
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy; UCL Genomics, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
| | - Juan Pablo Lopez
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Canada
| | - Cristiana Cruceanu
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Canada
| | - Claudia Pisanu
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Donatella Congiu
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Giovanni Severino
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Raffaella Ardau
- Unit of Clinical Pharmacology of the University Hospital of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Caterina Chillotti
- Unit of Clinical Pharmacology of the University Hospital of Cagliari, Italy
| | - Martin Alda
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Gustavo Turecki
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Canada
| | - Maria Del Zompo
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Cagliari, Italy; Unit of Clinical Pharmacology of the University Hospital of Cagliari, Italy
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12
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Brivio E, Lopez JP, Chen A. Sex differences: Transcriptional signatures of stress exposure in male and female brains. GENES BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR 2020; 19:e12643. [PMID: 31989757 DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 01/13/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
More than two-thirds of patients suffering from stress-related disorders are women but over two-thirds of suicide completers are men. These are just some examples of the many sex differences in the prevalence and manifestations of stress-related disorders, such as major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety disorders, which have been extensively documented in clinical research. Nonetheless, the molecular origins of this sex dimorphism are still quite obscure. In response to this lack of knowledge, the NIH recently advocated implementing sex as biological variable in the design of preclinical studies across disciplines. As a result, a newly emerging field within psychiatry is trying to elucidate the molecular causes underlying the clinically described sex dimorphism. Several studies in rodents and humans have already identified many stress-related genes that are regulated by acute and chronic stress in a sex-specific fashion. Furthermore, current transcriptomic studies have shown that pathways and networks in male and female individuals are not equally affected by stress exposure. In this review, we give an overview of transcriptional studies designed to understand how sex influences stress-specific transcriptomic changes in rodent models, as well as human psychiatric patients, highlighting the use of different methodological techniques. Understanding which mechanisms are more affected in males, and which in females, may lead to the identification of sex-specific mechanisms, their selective contribution to stress susceptibility, and their role in the development of stress-related psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Brivio
- Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.,International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Juan Pablo Lopez
- Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
| | - Alon Chen
- Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.,Department of Neurobiology, Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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13
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Scarr E, Udawela M, Dean B. Changed cortical risk gene expression in major depression and shared changes in cortical gene expression between major depression and bipolar disorders. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2019; 53:1189-1198. [PMID: 31238704 DOI: 10.1177/0004867419857808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mood disorders likely occur in someone with a genetic predisposition who encounters a deleterious environmental factor leading to dysregulated physiological processes due to genetic mutations and epigenetic mechanisms altering gene expression. To gain data to support this hypothesis, we measured levels of gene expression in three cortical regions known to be affected by the pathophysiologies of major depression and bipolar disorders. METHODS Levels of RNA were measured using the Affymetrix™ Human Exon 1.0 ST Array in Brodmann's areas 9, 10 and 33 (left hemisphere) from individuals with major depression, bipolar disorder and age- and sex-matched controls with changed expression taken as a fold change in RNA ⩾1.2 at p < 0.01. Data were analysed using JMP® genomics 6.0 and the probable biological consequences of changes in gene expression determined using Core and Pathway Designer Analyses in Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. RESULTS There were altered levels of RNA in Brodmann's area 9 (major depression = 424; bipolar disorder = 331), Brodmann's area 10 (major depression = 52; bipolar disorder = 24) and Brodmann's area 33 (major depression = 59 genes; bipolar disorder = 38 genes) in mood disorders. No gene was differentially expressed in all three regions in either disorder. There was a high correlation between fold changes in levels of RNA from 112 genes in Brodmann's area 9 from major depression and bipolar disorder (r2 = 0.91, p < 0.001). Levels of RNA for four risk genes for major depression were lower in Brodmann's area 9 in that disorder. CONCLUSION Our data argue that there are complex regional-specific changes in cortical gene expression in major depression and bipolar disorder that includes the expression of some risk genes for major depression in those with that disorder. It could be hypothesised that the common changes in gene expression in major depression and bipolar disorder are involved in the genesis of symptoms common to both disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Scarr
- Molecular Psychiatry Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia.,CRC for Mental Health, Carlton, VIC, Australia.,Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Madhara Udawela
- Molecular Psychiatry Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia.,CRC for Mental Health, Carlton, VIC, Australia
| | - Brian Dean
- Molecular Psychiatry Laboratory, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia.,CRC for Mental Health, Carlton, VIC, Australia.,Centre for Mental Health, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, Swinburne University, Hawthorne, VIC, Australia
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14
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Luykx JJ, Giuliani F, Giuliani G, Veldink J. Coding and Non-Coding RNA Abnormalities in Bipolar Disorder. Genes (Basel) 2019; 10:genes10110946. [PMID: 31752442 PMCID: PMC6895892 DOI: 10.3390/genes10110946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Revised: 11/05/2019] [Accepted: 11/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The molecular mechanisms underlying bipolar disorder (BPD) have remained largely unknown. Postmortem brain tissue studies comparing BPD patients with healthy controls have produced a heterogeneous array of potentially implicated protein-coding RNAs. We hypothesized that dysregulation of not only coding, but multiple classes of RNA (coding RNA, long non-coding (lnc) RNA, circular (circ) RNA, and/or alternative splicing) underlie the pathogenesis of BPD. Using non-polyadenylated libraries we performed RNA sequencing in postmortem human medial frontal gyrus tissue from BPD patients and healthy controls. Twenty genes, some of which not previously implicated in BPD, were differentially expressed (DE). PCR validation and replication confirmed the implication of these DE genes. Functional in silico analyses identified enrichment of angiogenesis, vascular system development and histone H3-K4 demethylation. In addition, ten lncRNA transcripts were differentially expressed. Furthermore, an overall increased number of alternative splicing events in BPD was detected, as well as an increase in the number of genes carrying alternative splicing events. Finally, a large reservoir of circRNAs populating brain tissue not affected by BPD is described, while in BPD altered levels of two circular transcripts, cNEBL and cEPHA3, are reported. cEPHA3, hitherto unlinked to BPD, is implicated in developmental processes in the central nervous system. Although we did not perform replication analyses of non-coding RNA findings, our findings hint that RNA dysregulation in BPD is not limited to coding regions, opening avenues for future pharmacological investigations and biomarker research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jurjen J. Luykx
- Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (F.G.); (G.G.); (J.V.)
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), Utrecht University, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
- GGNet Mental Health, 7328 JE Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +31-0-88-756-8638
| | - Fabrizio Giuliani
- Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (F.G.); (G.G.); (J.V.)
| | - Giuliano Giuliani
- Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (F.G.); (G.G.); (J.V.)
| | - Jan Veldink
- Department of Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands; (F.G.); (G.G.); (J.V.)
- Department of Neurology, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), Utrecht University, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands
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15
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Li H, Zhou DS, Chang H, Wang L, Liu W, Dai SX, Zhang C, Cai J, Liu W, Li X, Fan W, Tang W, Tang W, Liu F, He Y, Bai Y, Hu Z, Xiao X, Gao L, Li M. Interactome Analyses implicated CAMK2A in the genetic predisposition and pharmacological mechanism of Bipolar Disorder. J Psychiatr Res 2019; 115:165-175. [PMID: 31150948 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2019] [Revised: 05/21/2019] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a severe mental illness characterized by fluctuations in mood states, behaviors and energy levels. Growing evidence suggests that genes associated with specific illnesses tend to interact together and encode a tight protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, providing valuable information for understanding their pathogenesis. To gain insights into the genetic and physiological foundation of BPD, we conduct the physical PPI analysis of 184 BPD risk genes distilled from genome-wide association studies and exome sequencing studies. We have identified several hub genes (CAMK2A, HSP90AA1 and PLCG1) among those risk genes, and observed significant enrichment of the BPD risk genes in certain pathways such as calcium signaling, oxytocin signaling and circadian entrainment. Furthermore, while none of the 184 genetic risk genes are "well established" BPD drug targets, our PPI analysis showed that αCaMKII (encoded by CAMK2A) had direct physical PPIs with targets (HRH1, SCN5A and CACNA1E) of clinically used anti-manic BPD drugs, such as carbamazepine. We thus speculated that αCaMKII might be involved in the cellular pharmacological actions of those drugs. Using cultured rat primary cortical neurons, we found that carbamazepine treatment induced phosphorylation of αCaMKII in dose-dependent manners. Intriguingly, previous study showed that CAMK2A heterozygous knockout (CAMK2A+/-) mice exhibited infradian oscillation of locomotor activities that can be rescued by carbamazepine. Our data, in combination with previous studies, provide convergent evidence for the involvement of CAMK2A in the risk of BPD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huijuan Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China; Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Dong-Sheng Zhou
- Department of Psychiatry, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
| | - Hong Chang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Lu Wang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Weipeng Liu
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China; Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Shao-Xing Dai
- Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedicine Research, Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Chen Zhang
- Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Jun Cai
- Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Weiqing Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Xingxing Li
- Department of Psychiatry, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
| | - Weixing Fan
- Jinhua Second Hospital, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wei Tang
- Wenzhou Kangning Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wenxin Tang
- Hangzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Fang Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yuanfang He
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yan Bai
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Zhonghua Hu
- Institute of Molecular Precision Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Center for Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Xiao Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Lei Gao
- Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Tai'an, Shandong, China.
| | - Ming Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China; (m)CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
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16
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Commonality in dysregulated expression of gene sets in cortical brains of individuals with autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Transl Psychiatry 2019; 9:152. [PMID: 31127088 PMCID: PMC6534650 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-019-0488-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2018] [Revised: 04/03/2019] [Accepted: 04/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals affected with different neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism (AUT), schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD), may share similar clinical manifestations, suggesting shared genetic influences and common biological mechanisms underlying these disorders. Using brain transcriptome data gathered from postmortem donors affected with AUT, SCZ and BPD, it is now possible to identify shared dysregulated gene sets, i.e., those abnormally expressed in brains of neuropsychiatric patients, compared to non-psychiatric controls. Here, we apply a novel aberrant gene expression analysis method, coupled with consensus co-expression network analysis, to identify gene sets with shared dysregulated expression in cortical brains of individuals affected with AUT, SCZ and BPD. We identify eight gene sets with dysregulated expression shared by AUT, SCZ and BPD, 23 by AUT and SCZ, four by AUT and BPD, and two by SCZ and BPD. The identified genes are enriched with functions relevant to amino acid transport, synapse, neurotransmitter release, oxidative stress, nitric oxide synthase biosynthesis, immune response, protein folding, lysophosphatidic acid-mediated signaling and glycolysis. Our method has been proven to be effective in discovering and revealing multigene sets with dysregulated expression shared by different neuropsychiatric disorders. Our findings provide new insights into the common molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and progression of AUT, SCZ and BPD, contributing to the study of etiological overlap between these neuropsychiatric disorders.
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17
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Microglia in post-mortem brain tissue of patients with bipolar disorder are not immune activated. Transl Psychiatry 2019; 9:153. [PMID: 31127084 PMCID: PMC6534632 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-019-0490-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Revised: 04/10/2019] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic, epidemiological, and biomarker studies suggest that the immune system is involved in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder (BD). It has therefore been hypothesized that immune activation of microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, is associated with the disease. Only a few studies have addressed the involvement of microglia in BD so far and a more detailed immune profiling of microglial activation is lacking. Here, we applied a multi-level approach to determine the activation state of microglia in BD post-mortem brain tissue. We did not find differences in microglial density, and mRNA expression of microglial markers in the medial frontal gyrus (MFG) of patients with BD. Furthermore, we performed in-depth characterization of human primary microglia isolated from fresh brain tissue of the MFG, superior temporal gyrus (STG), and thalamus (THA). Similarly, these ex vivo isolated microglia did not show elevated expression of inflammatory markers. Finally, challenging the isolated microglia with LPS did not result in an increased immune response in patients with BD compared to controls. In conclusion, our study shows that microglia in post-mortem brain tissue of patients with BD are not immune activated.
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18
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Lee YC, Chao YL, Chang CE, Hsieh MH, Liu KT, Chen HC, Lu ML, Chen WY, Chen CH, Tsai MH, Lu TP, Huang MC, Kuo PH. Transcriptome Changes in Relation to Manic Episode. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:280. [PMID: 31118907 PMCID: PMC6504680 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2018] [Accepted: 04/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Bipolar disorder (BD) is highly heritable and well known for its recurrent manic and depressive episodes. The present study focused on manic episode in BD patients and aimed to investigate state-specific transcriptome alterations between acute episode and remission, including messenger RNAs (mRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and micro-RNAs (miRNAs), using microarray and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) platforms. BD patients were enrolled with clinical information, and peripheral blood samples collected at both acute and remission status spanning for at least 2 months were confirmed by follow-ups. Symptom severity was assessed by Young Mania Rating Scale. We enrolled six BD patients as the discovery samples and used the Affymetrix Human Transcriptome Array 2.0 to capture transcriptome data at the two time points. For replication, expression data from Gene Expression Omnibus that consisted of 11 BD patients were downloaded, and we performed a mega-analysis for microarray data of 17 patients. Moreover, we conducted RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) in additional samples of 7 BD patients. To identify intraindividual differentially expressed genes (DEGs), we analyzed data using a linear model controlling for symptom severity. We found that noncoding genes were of majority among the top DEGs in microarray data. The expression fold change of coding genes among DEGs showed moderate to high correlations (∼0.5) across platforms. A number of lncRNAs and two miRNAs (MIR181B1 and MIR103A1) exhibited high levels of gene expression in the manic state. For coding genes, we reported that the taste function-related genes, including TAS2R5 and TAS2R3, may be mania state-specific markers. Additionally, four genes showed a nominal p-value of less than 0.05 in all our microarray data, mega-analysis, and RNA-Seq analysis. They were upregulated in the manic state and consisted of MS4A14, PYHIN1, UTRN, and DMXL2, and their gene expression patterns were further validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (qRT-PCR). We also performed weight gene coexpression network analysis to identify gene modules for manic episode. Genes in the mania-related modules were different from the susceptible loci of BD obtained from genome-wide association studies, and biological pathways in relation to these modules were mainly related to immune function, especially cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. Results of the present study elucidated potential molecular targets and genomic networks that are involved in manic episode. Future studies are needed to further validate these biomarkers for their roles in the etiology of bipolar illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya-Chin Lee
- Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Lin Chao
- Department of Psychiatry, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital and Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan
| | - Chiao-Erh Chang
- Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ming-Hsien Hsieh
- Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Kuan-Ting Liu
- Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Hsi-Chung Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Mong-Liang Lu
- Department of Psychiatry, Wang-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Wen-Yin Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chun-Hsin Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, Wang-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Mong-Hsun Tsai
- Institute of Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Tzu-Pin Lu
- Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Ming-Chyi Huang
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Po-Hsiu Kuo
- Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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19
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Zhao L, Chang H, Zhou DS, Cai J, Fan W, Tang W, Tang W, Li X, Liu W, Liu F, He Y, Bai Y, Sun Y, Dai J, Li L, Xiao X, Zhang C, Li M. Replicated associations of FADS1, MAD1L1, and a rare variant at 10q26.13 with bipolar disorder in Chinese population. Transl Psychiatry 2018; 8:270. [PMID: 30531795 PMCID: PMC6286364 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-018-0337-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2018] [Revised: 10/07/2018] [Accepted: 11/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetic analyses of psychiatric illnesses, such as bipolar disorder (BPD), have revealed essential information regarding the underlying pathological mechanisms. While such studies in populations of European ancestry have achieved prominent success, understanding the genetic risk factors of these illnesses (especially BPD) in Chinese population remains an urgent task. Given the lack of genome-wide association study (GWAS) of BPD in Chinese population from Mainland China, replicating the previously reported GWAS hits in distinct populations will provide valuable information for future GWAS analysis in Han Chinese. In the present study, we have recruited 1146 BPD cases and 1956 controls from Mainland China for genetic analyses, as well as 65 Han Chinese brain amygdala tissues for mRNA expression analyses. Using this clinical sample, one of the largest Han Chinese BPD samples till now, we have conducted replication analyses of 21 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) extracted from previous GWAS of distinct populations. Among the 21 tested SNPs, 16 showed the same direction of allelic effects in our samples compared with previous studies; 6 SNPs achieved nominal significance (p < 0.05) at one-tailed test, and 2 additional SNPs showed marginal significance (p < 0.10). Aside from replicating previously reported BPD risk SNPs, we herein also report several intriguing findings: (1) the SNP rs174576 was associated with BPD in our Chinese sample and in the overall global meta-analysis, and was significantly correlated with FADS1 mRNA in diverse public RNA-seq datasets as well as our in house collected Chinese amygdala samples; (2) two (partially) independent SNPs in MAD1L1 were both significantly associated with BPD in our Chinese sample, which was also supported by haplotype analysis; (3) a rare SNP rs78089757 in 10q26.13 region was a genome-wide significant variant for BPD in East Asians, and this SNP was near monomorphic in Europeans. In sum, these results confirmed several significant BPD risk genes. We hope this Chinese BPD case-control sample and the current brain amygdala tissues (with continuous increasing sample size in the near future) will provide helpful resources in elucidating the genetic and molecular basis of BPD in this major world population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijuan Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
- Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Hong Chang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Dong-Sheng Zhou
- Department of Psychiatry, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
| | - Jun Cai
- Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Weixing Fan
- Jinhua Second Hospital, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wei Tang
- Wenzhou Kangning Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wenxin Tang
- Hangzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
| | - Xingxing Li
- Department of Psychiatry, Ningbo Kangning Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
| | - Weiqing Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Fang Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yuanfang He
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yan Bai
- Department of Psychiatry, the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Yan Sun
- Wuhan Institute for Neuroscience and Neuroengineering, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, Hubei, China
- Chinese Brain Bank Center, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Jiapei Dai
- Wuhan Institute for Neuroscience and Neuroengineering, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, Hubei, China
- Chinese Brain Bank Center, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Lingyi Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Xiao Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
| | - Chen Zhang
- Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
| | - Ming Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
- CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
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20
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Zhou Y, Lutz PE, Wang YC, Ragoussis J, Turecki G. Global long non-coding RNA expression in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex of depressed suicides. Transl Psychiatry 2018; 8:224. [PMID: 30337518 PMCID: PMC6193959 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-018-0267-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Revised: 07/10/2018] [Accepted: 09/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are an emerging class of regulatory RNA that may be implicated in psychiatric disorders. Here we performed RNA-sequencing in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex of 26 depressed suicides and 24 matched controls. We first performed differential lncRNA expression analysis, and then conducted Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify co-expression modules associating with depression and suicide. We identified 23 differentially expressed lncRNAs (FDR < 0.1) as well as their differentially expressed overlapping and antisense protein-coding genes. Several of these overlapping or antisense genes were associated with interferon signaling, which is a component of the innate immune response. Using WGCNA, we identified modules of highly co-expressed genes associated with depression and suicide and found protein-coding genes highly connected to differentially expressed lncRNAs within these modules. These protein-coding genes were located distal to their associated lncRNAs and were found to be part of several GO terms enriched in the significant modules, which include: cytoskeleton organization, plasma membrane, cell adhesion, nucleus, DNA-binding, and regulation of dendrite development and morphology. Altogether, we report that lncRNAs are differentially expressed in the brains of depressed individuals who died by suicide and may represent regulators of important molecular functions and biological processes.
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Grants
- R01 DA033684 NIDA NIH HHS
- Dr. G. Turecki holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1), FRQS Chercheur National salary award and a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award; he is supported by grants FDN148374, MOP93775, MOP11260, MOP119429, and MOP119430 from CIHR, by NIH grant 1R01DA033684, by the FRQS through the Quebec Network on Suicide, Mood Disorders, and Related Disorders, and through an investigator-initiated research grant from Pfizer
- Scholarships from the Fondation Fyssen, the Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, the Fondation Deniker and the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale.
- CFI grant number 32557 and Genome Canada Genome Innovation Node awards.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Zhou
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Boulevard, Montreal, QC, H4H 1R3, Canada
| | - Pierre-Eric Lutz
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Boulevard, Montreal, QC, H4H 1R3, Canada
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Strasbourg, Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives, Strasbourg, France
- Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Yu Chang Wang
- McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre, 740 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Room 7104, Montréal, QC, H3A 0G1, Canada
| | - Jiannis Ragoussis
- McGill University and Génome Québec Innovation Centre, 740 Dr. Penfield Avenue, Room 7104, Montréal, QC, H3A 0G1, Canada
| | - Gustavo Turecki
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Boulevard, Montreal, QC, H4H 1R3, Canada.
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21
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Cruceanu C, Schmouth JF, Torres-Platas SG, Lopez JP, Ambalavanan A, Darcq E, Gross F, Breton B, Spiegelman D, Rochefort D, Hince P, Petite JM, Gauthier J, Lafrenière RG, Dion PA, Greenwood CM, Kieffer BL, Alda M, Turecki G, Rouleau GA. Rare susceptibility variants for bipolar disorder suggest a role for G protein-coupled receptors. Mol Psychiatry 2018; 23:2050-2056. [PMID: 29158579 DOI: 10.1038/mp.2017.223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2017] [Revised: 08/21/2017] [Accepted: 09/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a prevalent mood disorder that tends to cluster in families. Despite high heritability estimates, few genetic susceptibility factors have been identified over decades of genetic research. One possible interpretation for the shortcomings of previous studies to detect causative genes is that BD is caused by highly penetrant rare variants in many genes. We explored this hypothesis by sequencing the exomes of affected individuals from 40 well-characterized multiplex families. We identified rare variants segregating with affected status in many interesting genes, and found an enrichment of deleterious variants in G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family genes, which are important drug targets. Furthermore, we showed targeted downstream GPCR dysregulation for some of the variants that may contribute to disease pathology. Particularly interesting was the finding of a rare and functionally relevant nonsense mutation in the corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 2 (CRHR2) gene that tracked with affected status in one family. By focusing on rare variants in informative families, we identified key biochemical pathways likely implicated in this complex disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- C Cruceanu
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - J-F Schmouth
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - S G Torres-Platas
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - J P Lopez
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - A Ambalavanan
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - E Darcq
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Douglas Hospital Research Center, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - F Gross
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Douglas Hospital Research Center, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - B Breton
- Domain Therapeutics NA, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - D Spiegelman
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - D Rochefort
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - P Hince
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - J M Petite
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
| | - J Gauthier
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - R G Lafrenière
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - P A Dion
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - C M Greenwood
- Lady Davis Research Institute, Jewish General Hospital,, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Oncology and Human Genetics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - B L Kieffer
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Douglas Hospital Research Center, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - M Alda
- Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
| | - G Turecki
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
| | - G A Rouleau
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
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22
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Wu C, Bendriem RM, Garamszegi SP, Song L, Lee CT. RNA sequencing in post-mortem human brains of neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2017; 71:663-672. [PMID: 28675555 DOI: 10.1111/pcn.12550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2017] [Revised: 05/30/2017] [Accepted: 06/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), a revolutionary tool for transcriptome profiling, is becoming increasingly important for neuroscientists in studying the transcriptional landscape of the human brain. Studies using this next-generation sequencing technique have already revealed novel insights into the complexity of neurons in the human brain and pathogenesis of complex neurological diseases. In clinical neuroscience, RNA-Seq provides exciting opportunities for improving diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases by facilitating the development of pharmacotherapies able to modulate gene expression. Furthermore, integrative whole genome sequencing and transcriptome sequencing can provide additional information for the functional role of mutated genes, prioritization of variants, and intron/exon splicing. This review describes the current state of RNA-Seq studies in neuropsychiatric disorders using post-mortem human brains, a brief survey of best practices for experimental design and sequencing data analysis, and the challenges associated with its application in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun Wu
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, USA
| | - Raphael M Bendriem
- Center for Neurogenetics, Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA
| | - Susanna P Garamszegi
- Department of Neurology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, USA
| | - Lei Song
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, USA
| | - Chun-Ting Lee
- Department of Neurology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, USA
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23
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Liu B, Teschemacher AG, Kasparov S. Astroglia as a cellular target for neuroprotection and treatment of neuro-psychiatric disorders. Glia 2017; 65:1205-1226. [PMID: 28300322 PMCID: PMC5669250 DOI: 10.1002/glia.23136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2016] [Revised: 02/15/2017] [Accepted: 02/17/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Astrocytes are key homeostatic cells of the central nervous system. They cooperate with neurons at several levels, including ion and water homeostasis, chemical signal transmission, blood flow regulation, immune and oxidative stress defense, supply of metabolites and neurogenesis. Astroglia is also important for viability and maturation of stem-cell derived neurons. Neurons critically depend on intrinsic protective and supportive properties of astrocytes. Conversely, all forms of pathogenic stimuli which disturb astrocytic functions compromise neuronal functionality and viability. Support of neuroprotective functions of astrocytes is thus an important strategy for enhancing neuronal survival and improving outcomes in disease states. In this review, we first briefly examine how astrocytic dysfunction contributes to major neurological disorders, which are traditionally associated with malfunctioning of processes residing in neurons. Possible molecular entities within astrocytes that could underpin the cause, initiation and/or progression of various disorders are outlined. In the second section, we explore opportunities enhancing neuroprotective function of astroglia. We consider targeting astrocyte-specific molecular pathways which are involved in neuroprotection or could be expected to have a therapeutic value. Examples of those are oxidative stress defense mechanisms, glutamate uptake, purinergic signaling, water and ion homeostasis, connexin gap junctions, neurotrophic factors and the Nrf2-ARE pathway. We propose that enhancing the neuroprotective capacity of astrocytes is a viable strategy for improving brain resilience and developing new therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beihui Liu
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and NeuroscienceUniversity of Bristol, University WalkBS8 1TDUnited Kingdom
| | - Anja G. Teschemacher
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and NeuroscienceUniversity of Bristol, University WalkBS8 1TDUnited Kingdom
| | - Sergey Kasparov
- School of Physiology, Pharmacology and NeuroscienceUniversity of Bristol, University WalkBS8 1TDUnited Kingdom
- Institute for Chemistry and BiologyBaltic Federal UniversityKaliningradRussian Federation
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24
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Papadima EM, Niola P, Melis C, Pisanu C, Congiu D, Cruceanu C, Lopez JP, Turecki G, Ardau R, Severino G, Chillotti C, Del Zompo M, Squassina A. Evidence towards RNA Binding Motif (RNP1, RRM) Protein 3 (RBM3) as a Potential Biomarker of Lithium Response in Bipolar Disorder Patients. J Mol Neurosci 2017; 62:304-308. [PMID: 28616776 DOI: 10.1007/s12031-017-0938-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2017] [Accepted: 06/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Lithium has been used for more than six decades for the management of bipolar disorder (BD). In a previous transcriptomic study, we showed that patients affected by either BD or cluster headache, both disorders characterized by circadian disturbances and response to lithium in a subgroup of patients, have higher expression of the RNA binding motif (RNP1, RRM) protein 3 (RBM3) gene compared to controls. To investigate whether RBM3 could represent a biomarker of lithium response, we screened raw microarray expression data from lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) derived from 20 BD patients, responders or non-responders to lithium. RBM3 was the most significantly differentially expressed gene in the list, being overexpressed in responders compared to non-responders (fold change = 2.0; p = 1.5 × 10-16). We therefore sought to validate the microarray finding by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and explore whether RBM3 expression was modulated by lithium treatment in vitro in LCLs as well as in human-derived neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Our findings confirmed the higher expression of RBM3 in responders compared to non-responders (fold change = 3.78; p = 0.0002). Lithium did not change RBM3 expression in LCLs in any of the groups, but it increased its expression in NPCs. While preliminary, our data suggest that higher levels of RBM3 might be required for better lithium response and that the expression of this gene could be modulated by lithium in a tissue-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleni Merkouri Papadima
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Paola Niola
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Carla Melis
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Claudia Pisanu
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Donatella Congiu
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Cristiana Cruceanu
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Juan Pablo Lopez
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Gustavo Turecki
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Raffaella Ardau
- Unit of Clinical Pharmacology of the University Hospital of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Giovanni Severino
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Caterina Chillotti
- Unit of Clinical Pharmacology of the University Hospital of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Maria Del Zompo
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy.,Unit of Clinical Pharmacology of the University Hospital of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Alessio Squassina
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Cagliari, sp 6, 09042, Cagliari, Italy.
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25
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Xiao X, Chang H, Li M. Molecular mechanisms underlying noncoding risk variations in psychiatric genetic studies. Mol Psychiatry 2017; 22:497-511. [PMID: 28044063 PMCID: PMC5378805 DOI: 10.1038/mp.2016.241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2016] [Revised: 11/08/2016] [Accepted: 11/14/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Recent large-scale genetic approaches such as genome-wide association studies have allowed the identification of common genetic variations that contribute to risk architectures of psychiatric disorders. However, most of these susceptibility variants are located in noncoding genomic regions that usually span multiple genes. As a result, pinpointing the precise variant(s) and biological mechanisms accounting for the risk remains challenging. By reviewing recent progresses in genetics, functional genomics and neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, as well as gene expression analyses of brain tissues, here we propose a roadmap to characterize the roles of noncoding risk loci in the pathogenesis of psychiatric illnesses (that is, identifying the underlying molecular mechanisms explaining the genetic risk conferred by those genomic loci, and recognizing putative functional causative variants). This roadmap involves integration of transcriptomic data, epidemiological and bioinformatic methods, as well as in vitro and in vivo experimental approaches. These tools will promote the translation of genetic discoveries to physiological mechanisms, and ultimately guide the development of preventive, therapeutic and prognostic measures for psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- X Xiao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - H Chang
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - M Li
- Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
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26
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Consistently altered expression of gene sets in postmortem brains of individuals with major psychiatric disorders. Transl Psychiatry 2016; 6:e890. [PMID: 27622934 PMCID: PMC5048210 DOI: 10.1038/tp.2016.173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2016] [Accepted: 07/18/2016] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The measurement of gene expression in postmortem brain is an important tool for understanding the pathogenesis of serious psychiatric disorders. We hypothesized that major molecular deficits associated with psychiatric disease would affect the entire brain, and such deficits may be shared across disorders. We performed RNA sequencing and quantified gene expression in the hippocampus of 100 brains in the Stanley Array Collection followed by replication in the orbitofrontal cortex of 57 brains in the Stanley Neuropathology Consortium. We then identified genes and canonical pathway gene sets with significantly altered expression in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the hippocampus and in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression in the orbitofrontal cortex. Although expression of individual genes varied, gene sets were significantly enriched in both of the brain regions, and many of these were consistent across diagnostic groups. Further examination of core gene sets with consistently increased or decreased expression in both of the brain regions and across target disorders revealed that ribosomal genes are overexpressed while genes involved in neuronal processes, GABAergic signaling, endocytosis and antigen processing have predominantly decreased expression in affected individuals compared to controls without a psychiatric disorder. Our results highlight pathways of central importance to psychiatric health and emphasize messenger RNA processing and protein synthesis as potential therapeutic targets for all three of the disorders.
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27
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Plant N. Can a systems approach produce a better understanding of mood disorders? Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj 2016; 1861:3335-3344. [PMID: 27565355 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2016.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2016] [Revised: 07/29/2016] [Accepted: 08/22/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND One in twenty-five people suffer from a mood disorder. Current treatments are sub-optimal with poor patient response and uncertain modes-of-action. There is thus a need to better understand underlying mechanisms that determine mood, and how these go wrong in affective disorders. Systems biology approaches have yielded important biological discoveries for other complex diseases such as cancer, and their potential in affective disorders will be reviewed. SCOPE OF REVIEW This review will provide a general background to affective disorders, plus an outline of experimental and computational systems biology. The current application of these approaches in understanding affective disorders will be considered, and future recommendations made. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS Experimental systems biology has been applied to the study of affective disorders, especially at the genome and transcriptomic levels. However, data generation has been slowed by a lack of human tissue or suitable animal models. At present, computational systems biology has only be applied to understanding affective disorders on a few occasions. These studies provide sufficient novel biological insight to motivate further use of computational biology in this field. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE In common with many complex diseases much time and money has been spent on the generation of large-scale experimental datasets. The next step is to use the emerging computational approaches, predominantly developed in the field of oncology, to leverage the most biological insight from these datasets. This will lead to the critical breakthroughs required for more effective diagnosis, stratification and treatment of affective disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nick Plant
- School of Bioscience and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK.
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28
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Leukocyte telomere length positively correlates with duration of lithium treatment in bipolar disorder patients. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2016; 26:1241-7. [PMID: 27084304 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.03.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2015] [Revised: 02/12/2016] [Accepted: 03/24/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Bipolar disorder (BD) has been suggested to be associated with accelerated aging and premature cell senescence. While findings on shorter telomeres in BD are controversial, a recent study showed that long-term lithium treatment correlates with longer telomeres in BD. In our study, we sought to investigate the correlation between leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and long-term lithium treatment in a sample of 200 BD patients characterized for lithium response. We also compared data from two different methods commonly used to measure telomere length, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q-FISH). We also measured, for the first time, the effect of lithium in vitro on the expression of the telomerase gene in human-derived neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Our findings showed that LTL correlated negatively with age (p=0.0002) and was independent of sex, diagnosis, age at onset, suicidal behavior, number of mood episodes, response to lithium and use of other psychotropic medications. After correcting for age, LTL was positively correlated with lithium treatment duration in patients treated for more than two years (n=150, R=0.17, p=0.037). There was a significant correlation between data measured with qPCR and Q-FISH (p=0.012, R=0.826). Lithium treatment increased telomerase expression in NPCs, though this effect was not statistically significant. Our data support previous findings showing that long-term lithium treatment associates with longer telomeres in BD, though this effect appeared to be independent from clinical response to the treatment. Moreover, we suggested for the first time that lithium increases the expression of telomerase gene in human neural progenitor cells.
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29
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Smith NJ. Drug Discovery Opportunities at the Endothelin B Receptor-Related Orphan G Protein-Coupled Receptors, GPR37 and GPR37L1. Front Pharmacol 2015; 6:275. [PMID: 26635605 PMCID: PMC4648071 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2015.00275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2015] [Accepted: 10/30/2015] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Orphan G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent a largely untapped resource for the treatment of a variety of diseases, despite sophisticated advances in drug discovery. Two promising orphan GPCRs are the endothelin B receptor-like proteins, GPR37 [ET(B)R-LP, Pael-R] and GPR37L1 [ET(B)R-LP-2]. Originally identified through searches for homologs of endothelin and bombesin receptors, neither GPR37 nor GPR37L1 were found to bind endothelins or related peptides. Instead, GPR37 was proposed to be activated by head activator (HA) and both GPR37 and GPR37L1 have been linked to the neuropeptides prosaposin and prosaptide, although these pairings are yet to be universally acknowledged. Both orphan GPCRs are widely expressed in the brain, where GPR37 has received the most attention for its link to Parkinson’s disease and parkinsonism, while GPR37L1 deletion leads to precocious cerebellar development and hypertension. In this review, the existing pharmacology and physiology of GPR37 and GPR37L1 is discussed and the potential therapeutic benefits of targeting these receptors are explored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola J Smith
- Molecular Cardiology Program, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute , Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia ; St. Vincent's Clinical School, University of New South Wales , Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia
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30
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Nestler EJ, Peña CJ, Kundakovic M, Mitchell A, Akbarian S. Epigenetic Basis of Mental Illness. Neuroscientist 2015; 22:447-63. [PMID: 26450593 DOI: 10.1177/1073858415608147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 189] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Psychiatric disorders are complex multifactorial illnesses involving chronic alterations in neural circuit structure and function as well as likely abnormalities in glial cells. While genetic factors are important in the etiology of most mental disorders, the relatively high rates of discordance among identical twins, particularly for depression and other stress-related syndromes, clearly indicate the importance of additional mechanisms. Environmental factors such as stress are known to play a role in the onset of these illnesses. Exposure to such environmental insults induces stable changes in gene expression, neural circuit function, and ultimately behavior, and these maladaptations appear distinct between developmental versus adult exposures. Increasing evidence indicates that these sustained abnormalities are maintained by epigenetic modifications in specific brain regions. Indeed, transcriptional dysregulation and the aberrant epigenetic regulation that underlies this dysregulation is a unifying theme in psychiatric disorders. Here, we provide a progress report of epigenetic studies of the three major psychiatric syndromes, depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. We review the literature derived from animal models of these disorders as well as from studies of postmortem brain tissue from human patients. While epigenetic studies of mental illness remain at early stages, understanding how environmental factors recruit the epigenetic machinery within specific brain regions to cause lasting changes in disease susceptibility and pathophysiology is revealing new insight into the etiology and treatment of these conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric J Nestler
- Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, The Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Catherine J Peña
- Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, The Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Marija Kundakovic
- Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, The Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Amanda Mitchell
- Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, The Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Schahram Akbarian
- Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, The Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
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