title: ADDing a piece to the puzzle of cognition in schizophrenia.
abstract: The biological bases of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia are poorly understood and may lie in insults in neurodevelopment, leading to alterations in critical structures. Synapses proteins are claimed to have etiopathogenic roles and more direct effects on core cognitive functions. Adducins family proteins seem of great interest, as they are fundamental constituents of synapses, involved in actin cytoskeleton assembly-disassembly, responsible of synaptic plasticity. ADD2 is more prominently expressed in brain tissues and influences memory and learning, commonly impaired in schizophrenia. In the present study we tested 342 patients with schizophrenia for three common adducins genetic variants, ADD1 rs4961, ADD2 rs4984 and ADD3 rs3731566, reported to have significant effects on circulatory system in humans. Neuropsychological measures were evaluated with the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS), a broad battery evaluating core cognitive domains. The analysis showed significant effects of ADD2 genotype on almost every cognitive domain. Moreover, significant interactions between ADD1 and ADD3 were also observed on some BACS subtests, namely Symbol Coding and Verbal Memory. Our findings suggest that adducins are involved in cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. This effect may result both from a direct mechanism affecting synaptic building and plasticity and indirectly as a consequence of vascular insults.
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: bosia.marta@hsr.it.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bosia
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pigoni
authors.affiliation: OU Nephrology and Dialysis, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zagato
authors.affiliation: OU Nephrology and Dialysis, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Lino
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Merlino
authors.affiliation: OU Nephrology and Dialysis, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Nunzia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Casamassima
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lorenzi
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Adele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pirovano
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; Department of Clinical Neurosciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Smeraldi
authors.affiliation: Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; OU Nephrology and Dialysis, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Manunta
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cavallaro
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000099291:Adducins
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; C501062:ADD2 protein, human; D000099291:Adducins
keywords: Adducin; Cognition; Cytoskeleton proteins; Genetics; Neurodevelopment; Psychotic disorders; Schizophrenia; Synaptic plasticity