title: Neurodevelopment in schizophrenia: the role of the wnt pathways.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review the role of Wnt pathways in the neurodevelopment of schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  SYSTEMATIC PUBMED SEARCH, USING AS KEYWORDS ALL THE TERMS RELATED TO THE WNT PATHWAYS AND CROSSING THEM WITH EACH OF THE FOLLOWING AREAS: normal neurodevelopment and physiology, neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia, schizophrenia, and antipsychotic drug action.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neurodevelopmental, behavioural, genetic, and psychopharmacological data point to the possible involvement of Wnt systems, especially the canonical pathway, in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and in the mechanism of antipsychotic drug action. The molecules most consistently found to be associated with abnormalities or in antipsychotic drug action are Akt1, glycogen synthase kinase3beta, and beta-catenin. However, the extent to which they contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia or to antipsychotic action remains to be established.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study of the involvement of Wnt pathway abnormalities in schizophrenia may help in understanding this multifaceted clinical entity; the development of Wnt-related pharmacological targets must await the collection of more data.
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Panaccione
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Flavia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Napoletano
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Alberto Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Forte
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Giorgio D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Kotzalidis
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Del Casale
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rapinesi
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brugnoli
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Serata
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caccia
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cuomo
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ambrosi
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Alessio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simonetti
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Savoja
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Lavinia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Chiara
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Danese
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Manfredi
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Delfina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Janiri
authors.affiliation: NEUROMED, Pozzilli, Isernia, Italy;
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Motolese
authors.affiliation: NEUROMED, Pozzilli, Isernia, Italy; ; Department of Neuropharmacology, Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Ferdinando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nicoletti
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy; ; Centro Lucio Bini, Rome, Italy;
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Girardi
authors.affiliation: NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy; ; Centro Lucio Bini, Rome, Italy; ; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sani
keywords: Antipsychotic Drugs; Neurodevelopment; Schizophrenia; Wingless (Wnt) signalling.