| 1 | Mol. Psychiatry 2011 Jan 16: 37-58 |
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| PMID | 19935739 |
| Title | Identification of blood biomarkers for psychosis using convergent functional genomics. |
| Abstract | There are to date no objective clinical laboratory blood tests for psychotic disease states. We provide proof of principle for a convergent functional genomics (CFG) approach to help identify and prioritize blood biomarkers for two key psychotic symptoms, one sensory (hallucinations) and one cognitive (delusions). We used gene expression profiling in whole blood samples from patients with schizophrenia and related disorders, with phenotypic information collected at the time of blood draw, then cross-matched the data with other human and animal model lines of evidence. Topping our list of candidate blood biomarkers for hallucinations, we have four genes decreased in expression in high hallucinations states (Fn1, RHOBTB3, Aldh1l1, Mpp3), and three genes increased in high hallucinations states (Arhgef9, Phlda1, S100a6). All of these genes have prior evidence of differential expression in schizophrenia patients. At the top of our list of candidate blood biomarkers for delusions, we have 15 genes decreased in expression in high delusions states (such as Drd2, Apoe, Scamp1, Fn1, Idh1, Aldh1l1), and 16 genes increased in high delusions states (such as Nrg1, Egr1, Pvalb, Dctn1, Nmt1, Tob2). Twenty-five of these genes have prior evidence of differential expression in schizophrenia patients. Predictive scores, based on panels of top candidate biomarkers, show good sensitivity and negative predictive value for detecting high psychosis states in the original cohort as well as in three additional cohorts. These results have implications for the development of objective laboratory tests to measure illness severity and response to treatment in devastating disorders such as schizophrenia. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |
| 2 | Cell. Signal. 2012 May 24: 1053-63 |
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| PMID | 22245496 |
| Title | RhoBTB3 interacts with the 5-HT7a receptor and inhibits its proteasomal degradation. |
| Abstract | The 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)7 receptor is the most recently identified serotonin receptor and is involved in a wide variety of central nervous system (CNS) functions, namely circadian rhythm, REM sleep, depression, thermoregulation, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, schizophrenia, epilepsy, nociception, migraine, sensation-seeking behavior, impulsivity, learning and memory. These numerous (patho)physiological processes of the CNS, in which the 5-HT7 receptor is involved, most likely reflect a diverse set of signaling pathways arising from this receptor. In order to reveal new interaction partners and possibly new signaling and/or trafficking pathways, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screening, using the C-terminal tail of the 5-HT7a receptor as bait and an adult-human brain cDNA library as prey. In this way we identified RHOBTB3 as a new interaction partner of the 5-HT7a receptor. By means of co-immunoprecipitation we were able to confirm the interaction between full length 5-HT7a receptor and RHOBTB3 in HEK293T cells. Subsequent domain mapping of this interaction revealed that not only the C-terminal tail, but also the third intracellular loop of the 5-HT7a receptor is involved. In addition, immunofluorescence microscopy showed clear co-localization between the 5-HT7a receptor and RHOBTB3 at the plasma membrane and in the endoplasmic reticulum. Despite the fact that RHOBTB3 has been shown to interact with Cul3, which in turn interacts with the E3 ubiquitin ligase, Roc1, we show here that RHOBTB3 neither recruits Cul3/Roc1 to the 5-HT7a receptor nor does it mediate ubiquitination of this receptor. Instead, we demonstrate that RHOBTB3 strongly inhibits proteasomal degradation of the 5-HT7a receptor. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |