title: Gene expression alterations related to mania and psychosis in peripheral blood of patients with a first episode of psychosis.
abstract: Psychotic disorders affect ~3% of the general population and are among the most severe forms of mental diseases. In early stages of psychosis, clinical aspects may be difficult to distinguish from one another. Undifferentiated psychopathology at the first-episode of psychosis (FEP) highlights the need for biomarkers that can improve and refine differential diagnosis. We investigated gene expression differences between patients with FEP-schizophrenia spectrum (SCZ; N=53) or FEP-Mania (BD; N=16) and healthy controls (N=73). We also verified whether gene expression was correlated to severity of psychotic, manic, depressive symptoms and/or functional impairment. All participants were antipsychotic-naive. After the psychiatric interview, blood samples were collected and the expression of 12 psychotic-disorder-related genes was evaluated by quantitative PCR. AKT1 and DICER1 expression levels were higher in BD patients compared with that in SCZ patients and healthy controls, suggesting that expression of these genes is associated more specifically to manic features. Furthermore, MBP and NDEL1 expression levels were higher in SCZ and BD patients than in healthy controls, indicating that these genes are psychosis related (independent of diagnosis). No correlation was found between gene expression and severity of symptoms or functional impairment. Our findings suggest that genes related to neurodevelopment are altered in psychotic disorders, and some might support the differential diagnosis between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, with a potential impact on the treatment of these disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Department of Psychiatry, Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Gouvea
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Genetics Division, Department of Morphology and Genetics, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: V K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Ota
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Department of Psychiatry, Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Noto
authors.affiliation: Genetics Division, Department of Morphology and Genetics, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Santoro
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Genetics Division, Department of Morphology and Genetics, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Spindola
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Genetics Division, Department of Morphology and Genetics, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Moretti
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Genetics Division, Department of Morphology and Genetics, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Genetics Division, Department of Morphology and Genetics, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Rios
authors.affiliation: LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|Center of Mathematics, Computation and Cognition, Universidade Federal do ABC, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|Department of Pharmacology, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: M A F
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Research Group in Behavioral and Molecular Neuroscience of Bipolar Disorder, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brietzke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gadelha
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bressan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Department of Psychiatry, Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cordeiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.|Genetics Division, Department of Morphology and Genetics, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.|LiNC-Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Neurosciences, UNIFESP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Belangero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases / Q000235:genetics; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004676:Myelin Basic Protein / Q000235:genetics; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000235:genetics; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D012016:Reference Values; D043244:Ribonuclease III / Q000235:genetics; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; C499048:MBP protein, human; D004676:Myelin Basic Protein; C421108:NDEL1 protein, human; C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; C408087:DICER1 protein, human; D043244:Ribonuclease III; D053487:DEAD-box RNA Helicases