Journal article
Evidence that a working memory cognitive phenotype within schizophrenia has a unique underlying biology.
B Dean, EHX Thomas, K Bozaoglu, EJ Tan, TE Van Rheenen, E Neill, PJ Sumner, SP Carruthers, E Scarr, SL Rossell, C Gurvich
Psychiatry Research | ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | Published : 2022
Abstract
It is suggested studying phenotypes within the syndrome of schizophrenia will accelerate understanding the complex molecular pathology of the disorder. Supporting this hypothesis, we have identified a sub-group within schizophrenia with impaired working memory (WM) and have used Affymetrix™ Human Exon 1.0 ST Arrays to compare their blood RNA levels (n=16) to a group of with intact WM (n=18). Levels of 72 RNAs were higher in blood from patients with impaired WM, 11 of which have proven links to the maintenance of different aspects of working memory (cognition). Overall, changed gene expression in those with impaired WM could be linked to cognition through glutamatergic activity, olfaction, im..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Madhara Udawela for the technical assistance she provided in extracting RNA from blood for this study and funding from the Cooperative Research Centre for Mental Health that supported part of this study. The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of study participants, staff at recruitment services, staff at the Centre for Mental Health, and staff at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, including Professor Jayashri Kul-karni. The authors acknowledge the support of the Victorian Govern-ment's Operational Infrastructure Support Programme. Participants for this study were sourced, in part, through the Cognitive and Genetic Explanations of Mental Illness (CAGEMIS) bio-databank, which is sup-ported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grant (GNT1060664 to SLR) and fellowships (GNT1154651 to SLR, GNT546262 to CG, GNT1142424 to EJT and GNT1088785 to TVR). EHXT was supported by an Australian Post-graduate Award at Monash University. KB is supported by an E.H Flack Fellowship. This study was funded in part by the Cooperative Research Centre for Mental Health. SR and TVR received funding from Australian Rotary Health/Bipolar Expedition and the Helen McPherson Smith Trust. CG received funding from the Rebecca Cooper Foundation.