Validation of schizophrenia gene expression profile in a preclinical model of maternal infection during pregnancy

Animal models of schizophrenia constitute at this moment fundamental experimentation tools to further explore on the etiological basis of this pathology, leading to the discovery of new biological targets and innovative therapeutic strategies for its treatment.

Our research group Prof. Dr. Crespo-Facorro, Dr. Juan F. Lopez-Giménez (CSIC) and the research team of Prof. Dr. Gonzalez-Maeso (Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia, USA) describe at the journal Schizophrenia Research the existence of animal models that validates the alterations in the genetic expression that we had described previously in patients (Sainz et al., 2013; Crespo-Facorro et al, 2014). This group of genes (ADAMTS2, CD177, CNTNAP3, ENTPD2, RFX2 and UNC45B) whose expression is regulated in blood by exposure to antipsychotics in patients and which are dysregulated in the frontal lobe of “schizophrenic” mice can generate new and very interesting information about the molecular mechanisms of antipsychotics.

Validation of schizophrenia gene expression profile in a preclinical model of maternal infection during pregnancy.

Lopez-Gimenez JF, de la Fuente Revenga M, Ruso-Julve F, Saunders JM, Moreno JL, Crespo-Facorro B, González-Maeso J.
Schizophr Res. 2017 Feb 12. pii: S0920-9964(17)30076-2. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.02.005. [Epub ahead of print]