Altered Expression Of Thedisc1gene In Peripheral Blood Of Patients With Schizophrenia

Background Schizophrenia is a severe, heritable, and refractory psychiatric disorder. Several studies have shown that the disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene is closely associated with schizophrenia by its role in neuronal morphology, synaptic function, brain development, and dopamine homeostasis etc. This study intended to investigate the expression levels ofDISC1gene in schizophrenia patients compared with healthy controls, and the expression variation ofDISC1gene before and after antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia patients. Methods In this study, we comparedDISC1expression levels in blood of 48 healthy controls, and 32 schizophrenia patients before and after 12 weeks of antipsychotic treatment using real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis. Results The expression levels ofDISC1gene in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of schizophrenia patients before antipsychotic treatment were higher than those in healthy controls (P < 0.01); whereas after antipsychotic treatment, the expression levels ofDISC1gene in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of schizophrenia patients still remained increased (P < 0.01). Conclusions Our study provided further support for the involvement ofDISC1in the development of schizophrenia.