MicroRNA profiles in peripheral blood as potential biomarkers for schizophrenia
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Lai, Chi-Yu
Abstract
Recently several studies have demonstrated the potential utility of the blood-based gene expression profiling as a diagnostic tool for schizophrenia, though these studies were limited to the expression of protein-coding genes. The expressions of non-coding genes such as microRNAs (miRNAs) are now considered to play a significant role for the regulation of gene expression by means of inhibiting the translation of messenger RNAs (mRNAs), indicating that the miRNAs profiling in the peripheral blood might be potential biomarkers for schizophrenia. This study aimed to identify blood-based miRNA signature and evaluate its potential as biomarkers for schizophrenia. The study enrolled 20 schizophrenia patients at National Taiwan University Hospital and 20 age- and gender-matched normal controls. The expressions of 368 human miRNAs in their peripheral blood were examined using ABI PRISM 7900 Real Time PCR system. Supervised classification with internal cross-validation method was used to identify miRNAs that might be useful as biomarkers for schizophrenia. Possible biological mechanisms implicated in the target genes involved by the miRNAs were explored using bioinformatic methods as well. We identified a blood-based six-miRNA signature that could discriminate schizophrenia patients from normal controls with an accuracy rate ranging from 70% to 80%. Bioinformatic analyses indicated that dysregulation of these miRNAs in peripheral blood might be involved in estrogen receptor and dopamine receptor signaling pathways in schizophrenia patients. Moreover, possible biological functions of the target genes regulated by the six miRNAs included nervous, skeletal, and muscular system development and function. We concluded that genome-wide miRNA profiling was a feasible way for the identification of biomarkers for schizophrenia and the six-miRNA signature identified in this study warrants further investigation.
Subjects
schizophrenia
peripheral blood
gene expression profiling
microRNA
Type
thesis
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