title: Regulation of immune-modulatory genes in left superior temporal cortex of schizophrenia patients: a genome-wide microarray study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The role of neuroinflammation in schizophrenia has been an issue for long time. There are reports supporting the hypothesis of ongoing inflammation and others denying it. This may be partly ascribed to the origin of the materials (CSF, blood, brain tissue) or to the genes selected for the respective studies. Moreover, in some locations, inflammatory genes may be up-regulated, others may be down-regulated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Genome-wide microarrays have been used for expression profiling in post-mortem brains of schizophrenia patients. Array data have been analyzed by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and further confirmed with selected genes by real-time PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Brodman Area 22 of left superior temporal cortex, at least 70 genes (19%) out of 369 down-regulated genes (P < 0.05) belonged to the immune system. 23 from those 70 genes were randomly selected for real-time PCR. Six reached significance level at P < 0.05.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present data support a brain-specific view of the role immune-modulatory genes may play in the left superior temporal cortex in schizophrenia, because immune functions in the patients are not disturbed. In keeping with comparable, previous studies supporting the notion that schizophrenia is a disease of the synapse, we hypothesize that dysregulation of immune-related genes modifies synaptic functions and stability in this region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leonardi-Essmann
authors.forename: Pascal F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Durrenberger
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Parlapani
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schneider-Axmann
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Spanagel
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arzberger
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kretzschmar
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herrera-Marschitz
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Falkai
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Gebicke-Haerter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D005629:Frozen Sections / Q000379:methods; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015854:Up-Regulation