title: Genomic Editing of Non-Coding RNA Genes with CRISPR/Cas9 Ushers in a Potential Novel Approach to Study and Treat Schizophrenia.
abstract: Schizophrenia is a genetically related mental illness, in which the majority of genetic alterations occur in the non-coding regions of the human genome. In the past decade, a growing number of regulatory non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) including microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified to be strongly associated with schizophrenia. However, the studies of these ncRNAs in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and the reverting of their genetic defects in restoration of the normal phenotype have been hampered by insufficient technology to manipulate these ncRNA genes effectively as well as a lack of appropriate animal models. Most recently, a revolutionary gene editing technology known as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (Cas9; CRISPR/Cas9) has been developed that enable researchers to overcome these challenges. In this review article, we mainly focus on the schizophrenia-related ncRNAs and the use of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing on the non-coding regions of the genomic DNA in proving causal relationship between the genetic defects and the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We subsequently discuss the potential of translating this advanced technology into a clinical therapy for schizophrenia, although the CRISPR/Cas9 technology is currently still in its infancy and immature to put into use in the treatment of diseases. Furthermore, we suggest strategies to accelerate the pace from the bench to the bedside. This review describes the application of the powerful and feasible CRISPR/Cas9 technology to manipulate schizophrenia-associated ncRNA genes. This technology could help researchers tackle this complex health problem and perhaps other genetically related mental disorders due to the overlapping genetic alterations of schizophrenia with other mental illnesses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh People's HospitalWenzhou, China; Department of Psychiatry, Tianjin Mental Health Center, Tianjin Anding HospitalTianjin, China; Department of Psychiatry, Tianjin Anning HospitalTianjin, China.
authors.forename: Chuanjun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh People's Hospital Wenzhou, China.
authors.forename: Lirong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh People's Hospital Wenzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chongguang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh People's Hospital Wenzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ce
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh People's Hospital Wenzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; gene editing; lncRNAs; miRNAs; non-coding RNAs; schizophrenia