About This Project

Schizophrenia is a debilitating disease that affects 1% of the world population. Since little is known about the biological causes of the disease, diagnosis is based on behavioral symptoms, and clinicians prescribe medications that do not necessarily address the underlying causes of the disease in a trial-and-error fashion. Thus, there is a huge need for the discovery of relevant biomarkers to elucidate the biological etiology of the disease and to aid in disease diagnosis and treatment.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Biomarkers are useful tools that can aid in diagnosing diseases, monitoring disease progression and treatment efficacy, and guiding future research endeavors. Biomarkers can take the form of genetic markers, protein levels, and/or imaging markers. In this project, we aim to identify easy to collect, novel biomarkers of schizophrenia. More specifically, we will explore possible DNA, mRNA, and protein level biomarkers and how they relate to clinical and cognitive symptoms of the disease. This work has the potential to identify easy to collect, novel biomarkers of schizophrenia, thus providing insight into disease pathophysiology and improving diagnostic criteria and therapeutic options.

What is the significance of this project?

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a heterogenous and polygenic psychiatric illness characterized by the presence of positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. Since little is known about the molecular and genetic etiology of the disease, current therapeutics are often inadequate for treating all associated symptoms. Commonly prescribed antipsychotics can alleviate positive symptoms of SCZ but do little to address the negative and cognitive symptoms, resulting in high rates of lifelong disability. Identification of disease-associated biomarkers could aid in the development of novel therapeutics and facilitate the implementation of biologically-driven diagnostic criteria, which has the potential to improve treatment plans and patient outcomes.

What are the goals of the project?

To identify and characterize novel biomarkers for SCZ, we will collect buccal cell samples, clinical data, and cognitive data from patients with SCZ. We will also recruit age-, race-, and gender-matched control subjects. DNA, RNA, and protein fractions will be isolated from buccal cells. We will use RT-qPCR to assess differences in mRNA expression of genes of interest between patients and control participants. Differences in protein expression will be assessed using Western blot analysis. Finally, we will characterize these biomarkers by investigating how they relate to specific clinical and cognitive symptoms of SCZ. We have already begun data collection and sample processing for this IRB-approved study.