Abnormal RasGRP1 Expression in the Post-Mortem Brain and Blood Serum of Schizophrenia Patients
Arianna De Rosa,
Anna Di Maio,
Silvia Torretta,
Martina Garofalo,
Valentina Giorgelli,
Rita Masellis,
Tommaso Nuzzo,
Francesco Errico,
Alessandro Bertolino,
Srinivasa Subramaniam,
Antonio Rampino,
Alessandro Usiello
Affiliations
Arianna De Rosa
Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience, CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, 80145 Naples, Italy
Anna Di Maio
Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience, CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, 80145 Naples, Italy
Silvia Torretta
Group of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70124 Bari, Italy
Martina Garofalo
Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience, CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, 80145 Naples, Italy
Valentina Giorgelli
Group of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70124 Bari, Italy
Rita Masellis
Group of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70124 Bari, Italy
Tommaso Nuzzo
Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience, CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, 80145 Naples, Italy
Francesco Errico
Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience, CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, 80145 Naples, Italy
Alessandro Bertolino
Group of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70124 Bari, Italy
Srinivasa Subramaniam
Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
Antonio Rampino
Group of Psychiatric Neuroscience, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70124 Bari, Italy
Alessandro Usiello
Laboratory of Translational Neuroscience, CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, 80145 Naples, Italy
Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a polygenic severe mental illness. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have detected genomic variants associated with this psychiatric disorder and pathway analyses have indicated immune system and dopamine signaling as core components of risk in dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and hippocampus, but the mechanistic links remain unknown. The RasGRP1 gene, encoding for a guanine nucleotide exchange factor, is implicated in dopamine signaling and immune response. RasGRP1 has been identified as a candidate risk gene for SCZ and autoimmune disease, therefore representing a possible point of convergence between mechanisms involving the nervous and the immune system. Here, we investigated RasGRP1 mRNA and protein expression in post-mortem DLPFC and hippocampus of SCZ patients and healthy controls, along with RasGRP1 protein content in the serum of an independent cohort of SCZ patients and control subjects. Differences in RasGRP1 expression between SCZ patients and controls were detected both in DLPFC and peripheral blood of samples analyzed. Our results indicate RasGRP1 may mediate risk for SCZ by involving DLPFC and peripheral blood, thus encouraging further studies to explore its possible role as a biomarker of the disease and/or a target for new medication.
