| 1 | J Psychiatr Res 2012 Nov 46: 1464-74 |
|---|---|
| PMID | 22954356 |
| Title | A combined analysis of microarray gene expression studies of the human prefrontal cortex identifies genes implicated in schizophrenia. |
| Abstract | Small cohort sizes and modest levels of gene expression changes in brain tissue have plagued the statistical approaches employed in microarray studies investigating the mechanism of schizophrenia. To combat these problems a combined analysis of six prior microarray studies was performed to facilitate the robust statistical analysis of gene expression data from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of 107 patients with schizophrenia and 118 healthy subjects. Multivariate permutation tests identified 144 genes that were differentially expressed between schizophrenia and control groups. Seventy of these genes were identified as differentially expressed in at least one component microarray study but none of these individual studies had the power to identify the remaining 74 genes, demonstrating the utility of a combined approach. Gene ontology terms and biological pathways that were significantly enriched for differentially expressed genes were related to neuronal cell-cell signaling, mesenchymal induction, and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, which have all previously been associated with the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. The differential expression of BAG3, C4B, EGR1, MT1X, NEUROD6, SST and S100A8 was confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR in an independent cohort using postmortem human prefrontal cortex samples. Comparison of gene expression between schizophrenic subjects with and without detectable levels of antipsychotics in their blood suggests that the modulation of MT1X and S100A8 may be the result of drug exposure. In conclusion, this combined analysis has resulted in a statistically robust identification of genes whose dysregulation may contribute to the mechanism of schizophrenia. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia, schizophrenic |
| 2 | BMC Genomics 2012 -1 13 Suppl 8: S2 |
| PMID | 23282246 |
| Title | RNA-Seq analysis implicates dysregulation of the immune system in schizophrenia. |
| Abstract | While genome-wide association studies identified some promising candidates for schizophrenia, the majority of risk genes remained unknown. We were interested in testing whether integration gene expression and other functional information could facilitate the identification of susceptibility genes and related biological pathways. We conducted high throughput sequencing analyses to evaluate mRNA expression in blood samples isolated from 3 schizophrenia patients and 3 healthy controls. We also conducted pooled sequencing of 10 schizophrenic patients and matched controls. Differentially expressed genes were identified by t-test. In the individually sequenced dataset, we identified 198 genes differentially expressed between cases and controls, of them 19 had been verified by the pooled sequencing dataset and 21 reached nominal significance in gene-based association analyses of a genome wide association dataset. Pathway analysis of these differentially expressed genes revealed that they were highly enriched in the immune related pathways. Two genes, S100A8 and TYROBP, had consistent changes in expression in both individual and pooled sequencing datasets and were nominally significant in gene-based association analysis. Integration of gene expression and pathway analyses with genome-wide association may be an efficient approach to identify risk genes for schizophrenia. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia, schizophrenic |
| 3 | J Psychiatr Res 2012 Nov 46: 1464-74 |
| PMID | 22954356 |
| Title | A combined analysis of microarray gene expression studies of the human prefrontal cortex identifies genes implicated in schizophrenia. |
| Abstract | Small cohort sizes and modest levels of gene expression changes in brain tissue have plagued the statistical approaches employed in microarray studies investigating the mechanism of schizophrenia. To combat these problems a combined analysis of six prior microarray studies was performed to facilitate the robust statistical analysis of gene expression data from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of 107 patients with schizophrenia and 118 healthy subjects. Multivariate permutation tests identified 144 genes that were differentially expressed between schizophrenia and control groups. Seventy of these genes were identified as differentially expressed in at least one component microarray study but none of these individual studies had the power to identify the remaining 74 genes, demonstrating the utility of a combined approach. Gene ontology terms and biological pathways that were significantly enriched for differentially expressed genes were related to neuronal cell-cell signaling, mesenchymal induction, and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling, which have all previously been associated with the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. The differential expression of BAG3, C4B, EGR1, MT1X, NEUROD6, SST and S100A8 was confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR in an independent cohort using postmortem human prefrontal cortex samples. Comparison of gene expression between schizophrenic subjects with and without detectable levels of antipsychotics in their blood suggests that the modulation of MT1X and S100A8 may be the result of drug exposure. In conclusion, this combined analysis has resulted in a statistically robust identification of genes whose dysregulation may contribute to the mechanism of schizophrenia. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia, schizophrenic |
| 4 | BMC Genomics 2012 -1 13 Suppl 8: S2 |
| PMID | 23282246 |
| Title | RNA-Seq analysis implicates dysregulation of the immune system in schizophrenia. |
| Abstract | While genome-wide association studies identified some promising candidates for schizophrenia, the majority of risk genes remained unknown. We were interested in testing whether integration gene expression and other functional information could facilitate the identification of susceptibility genes and related biological pathways. We conducted high throughput sequencing analyses to evaluate mRNA expression in blood samples isolated from 3 schizophrenia patients and 3 healthy controls. We also conducted pooled sequencing of 10 schizophrenic patients and matched controls. Differentially expressed genes were identified by t-test. In the individually sequenced dataset, we identified 198 genes differentially expressed between cases and controls, of them 19 had been verified by the pooled sequencing dataset and 21 reached nominal significance in gene-based association analyses of a genome wide association dataset. Pathway analysis of these differentially expressed genes revealed that they were highly enriched in the immune related pathways. Two genes, S100A8 and TYROBP, had consistent changes in expression in both individual and pooled sequencing datasets and were nominally significant in gene-based association analysis. Integration of gene expression and pathway analyses with genome-wide association may be an efficient approach to identify risk genes for schizophrenia. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia, schizophrenic |