title: Altered MHC class I expression in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of nonsmoker patients with schizophrenia.
abstract: Schizophrenia (SZ) is a psychiatric disease with plausible neurodevelopmental etiology. Although genetic studies show significant association of immune molecules loci such as major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I with SZ, it is not clear whether these immune molecules are involved in the pathology observed in SZ brains. MHC class I and the classical pathway components of complement system (C1q and C3) have been shown to regulate brain neuronal maturation and function. We have examined the expression of MHC class I and complement protein C3 in two frontal cortical regions of postmortem brains of SZ patients. Since cigarette smoking may modulate MHC class I protein expression and a higher rate of smoking is observed in SZ patients, we studied the expression of MHC class I and C3 in relation to the presence of smoking. We found that MHC class I protein expression is reduced in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) but not in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of nonsmoker SZ patients. We did not observe SZ-associated changes in C3 mRNA expression. Our exploratory research suggests a potential involvement of MHC class I in SZ and implies that smoking might modulate its expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kano
authors.forename: Evaristus
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nwulia
authors.forename: Minae
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.forename: Yian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sawa
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cascella
mesh_terms: D015922:Complement C1q / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003176:Complement C3 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012907:Smoking / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003176:Complement C3; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine; D015922:Complement C1q