Normal human aging and early-stage schizophrenia share common molecular profiles.
We examined genome-wide expression datasets from human prefrontal cortex of normal and schizophrenic individuals ranging from 19 to 81 years of age. We found that changes in gene expression that are correlated with aging in normal subjects differ dramatically from those observed with aging in schizophrenic subjects. Only 2.5% of genes were correlated with age in both groups. Surprisingly, we also found a significant overlap (29-34%) between those genes whose expression was correlated with aging in normal subjects and those significantly altered in subjects with early-stage schizophrenia (within 4 years of diagnosis). This suggests that schizophrenia onset anticipates the normal aging process, and further, that some symptoms of aging, i.e. dementia and psychosis, might be explained by these common molecular profiles.
Tang
Bin
B
Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Chang
Wei-li
WL
Lanigan
Caroline M
CM
Dean
Brian
B
Sutcliffe
J Gregor
JG
Thomas
Elizabeth A
EA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*