2
|
Kasap M, Rajani V, Rajani J, Dwyer DS. Surprising conservation of schizophrenia risk genes in lower organisms reflects their essential function and the evolution of genetic liability. Schizophr Res 2018; 202:120-128. [PMID: 30017463 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2018.07.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2018] [Revised: 07/02/2018] [Accepted: 07/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric illness that affects approximately 1% of the population. Genetic variation in multiple genes causes elevated risk for the disorder, but the molecular basis is inadequately understood and it is not clear how risk genes have evolved and persisted in the genome. To address these issues, we have identified orthologs/homologs of 344 schizophrenia risk genes (from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium dataset) in lower organisms, including C. elegans, Drosophila and zebrafish, along with phenotypes produced by genetic disruption in C. elegans. Schizophrenia risk genes were evolutionarily conserved at significantly higher rates in C. elegans (81%) and zebrafish (88%) than genes in general for these two species (40-70%). The risk-gene equivalents were highly (~3-fold) enriched for essential genes consistent with polygenic mutation threshold models, which propose that genetic susceptibility results from the inevitable expression of harmful combinations of risk variants in the population. Most notably, numerous examples of cross-species synteny revealed how blocks of risk genes geared toward a shared biological purpose coalesced into proximity during evolution. We obtained initial evidence that schizophrenia risk genes affected different stages of development, potentially allowing differential modulation by the environment. Taken together, studies of the conservation of schizophrenia risk genes in simple model organisms provided novel insights into the molecular basis for genetic susceptibility to a complex human psychiatric disorder.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Merve Kasap
- Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Neuroscience, LSU Health Shreveport, USA
| | - Vivek Rajani
- Department of Psychiatry, LSU Health Shreveport, Shreveport, LA 71130, USA
| | - Jackie Rajani
- Department of Psychiatry, Rosalind Franklin University, Chicago, IL 60064, USA
| | - Donard S Dwyer
- Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Neuroscience, LSU Health Shreveport, USA; Department of Psychiatry, LSU Health Shreveport, Shreveport, LA 71130, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Zhou K, Yang Y, Gao L, He G, Li W, Tang K, Ji B, Zhang M, Li Y, Yang J, Sun L, Zhang Z, Zhu H, He L, Wan C. NMDA receptor hypofunction induces dysfunctions of energy metabolism and semaphorin signaling in rats: a synaptic proteome study. Schizophr Bull 2012; 38:579-91. [PMID: 21084551 PMCID: PMC3329985 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbq132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
There is considerable evidence to suggest that aberrations of synapse connectivity contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated glutamate transmission is especially important. Administration of MK-801 ([+]-5-methyl-10, 11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo-[a, d]-cycloheptene-5, 10-iminehydrogenmaleate) induces hypofunction of NMDA receptors in rats, which are widely used as a model for schizophrenia. We investigated synaptosomal proteome expression profiling of the cerebral cortex of MK-801-treated Sprague-Dawley rats using the 2-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis method, and 49 differentially expression proteins were successfully identified using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight/Time-of-Flight mass spectrometry. We carried out a literature search for further confirmation of subsynaptic locations and to explore the relevance to the diseases of differentially expressed proteins. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) was used to further examine the underlying relationship between the changed proteins. The network encompassing "cell morphology, cell-to-cell signaling and interaction, nervous system development and function" was found to be significantly altered in the MK-801-treated rats. "Energy metabolism" and "semaphorin signaling in neurons" are the most significant IPA canonical pathways to be affected by MK-801 treatment. Using western blots, we confirmed the differential expression of Camk2a, Crmp2, Crmp5, Dnm1, and Ndufs3 in both synaptosome proteins and total proteins in the cerebral cortex of the rats. Our study identified the change and/or response of the central nervous transmission system under the stress of NMDA hypofunction, underlining the importance of the synaptic function in schizophrenia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kejun Zhou
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yifeng Yang
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Linghan Gao
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Guang He
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Weidong Li
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Kefu Tang
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Baohu Ji
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Ming Zhang
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Li
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Jinglei Yang
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Liya Sun
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhao Zhang
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Hui Zhu
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Lin He
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China,Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Chunling Wan
- Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200030, China,Institutes for Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China,To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: 00-86-21-62932779, fax: 00-86-21-62822491, e-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Mattmann ME, Stoops SL, Lindsley CW. Inhibition of Akt with small molecules and biologics: historical perspective and current status of the patent landscape. Expert Opin Ther Pat 2011; 21:1309-38. [PMID: 21635152 DOI: 10.1517/13543776.2011.587959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Akt plays a pivotal role in cell survival and proliferation through a number of downstream effectors; unregulated activation of the PI3K/PTEN/Akt pathway is a prominent feature of many human cancers. Akt is considered an attractive target for cancer therapy by the inhibition of Akt alone or in combination with standard cancer chemotherapeutics. Both preclinical animal studies and clinical trials in humans have validated Akt as an important target of cancer drug discovery. AREA COVERED A historical perspective of Akt inhibitors, including PI analogs, ATP-competitive and allosteric Akt inhibitors, along with other inhibitory mechanisms are reviewed in this paper with a focus on issued patents, patent applications and a summary of clinical trial updates since the last review in 2007. EXPERT OPINION A vast diversity of inhibitors of Akt, both small molecule and biologic, have been developed in the past 5 years, with over a dozen in various phases of clinical development, and several displaying efficacy in humans. While it is not yet clear which mechanism of Akt inhibition will be optimal in humans, or which Akt isoforms to inhibit, or whether a small molecule or biologic agent will be best, data to all of these points will be available in the near future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Margrith E Mattmann
- Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Vanderbilt Program in Drug Discovery, Department of Pharmacology , Department of Chemistry , Nashville, TN 37232 , USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
Weeks KR, Dwyer DS, Aamodt EJ. Antipsychotic drugs activate the C. elegans akt pathway via the DAF-2 insulin/IGF-1 receptor. ACS Chem Neurosci 2010; 1:463-73. [PMID: 22778838 DOI: 10.1021/cn100010p] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2010] [Accepted: 03/15/2010] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The molecular modes of action of antipsychotic drugs are poorly understood beyond their effects at the dopamine D2 receptor. Previous studies have placed Akt signaling downstream of D2 dopamine receptors, and recent data have suggested an association between psychotic illnesses and defective Akt signaling. To characterize the effect of antipsychotic drugs on the Akt pathway, we used the model organism C. elegans, a simple system where the Akt/forkhead box O transcription factor (FOXO) pathway has been well characterized. All major classes of antipsychotic drugs increased signaling through the insulin/Akt/FOXO pathway, whereas four other drugs that are known to affect the central nervous system did not. The antipsychotic drugs inhibited dauer formation, dauer recovery, and shortened lifespan, three biological processes affected by Akt signaling. Genetic analysis showed that AKT-1 and the insulin and insulin-like growth factor receptor, DAF-2, were required for the antipsychotic drugs to increase signaling. Serotonin synthesis was partially involved, whereas the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK), SEK-1 is a MAP kinase kinase (MAPKK), and calcineurin were not involved. This is the first example of a common but specific molecular effect produced by all presently known antipsychotic drugs in any biological system. Because untreated schizophrenics have been reported to have low levels of Akt signaling, increased Akt signaling might contribute to the therapeutic actions of antipsychotic drugs.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kathrine R. Weeks
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, Louisiana 71130-3932
| | - Donard S. Dwyer
- Department of Psychiatry and Department of Pharmacology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, Louisiana 71130-3932
| | - Eric J. Aamodt
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, Louisiana 71130-3932
| |
Collapse
|