Proteomic Characterization of the Brain and Cerebrospinal Fluid of Schizophrenia Patients

Abstract

As a multifactorial mental disorder, schizophrenia presents a complex combination of genetic, neurodevelopmental and environmental components. These lead to difficulties in comprehending the molecular basis of schizophrenia as well as in identifying biomarkers. These issues can be tackled by proteomics, which has been used increasingly along with genetics and other '-omics' approaches. In the present chapter, we explore some advances in proteomic studies involving brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid collected from schizophrenic patients. We demonstrate that proteomic findings have been confirmed by other approaches, and added new information about the role of synaptic connectivity, oxidative stress, glucose metabolism and cytoskeletal alterations as core features of the disease pathophysiology. Integrative systems analysis including proteomics is a valid strategy for understanding the molecular basis of schizophrenia and may indicate the way to future clinical applications. SchizophreniaSchizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 0.3-0.7% and presenting a heterogeneous range of symptoms [1]. It is a multifactorial disorder composed of a number of etiological factors of small effect that may be triggered by environmental components [2]. The causes of schizophrenia are strongly determined by genetics, but also by other factors such as epistatic (interaction between two or more genes controlling a single phenotype) and environmental ones (epigenetics). This is supported by the fact that 90% of individuals who develop schizophrenia have no history of schizophrenic parents or relatives. This conclusion does not exclude the heritable factor of schizophrenia, which is high (up to 80%), but reinforces the fact that environmental factors influence the onset/development of the disease [3]. Although interactions occur and are responsible for the establishment of the Martins-de-Souza D (ed): Proteomics and Metabolomics in Psychiatry.