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Researchers find biomarker that could lead to improved schizophrenia treatments
Researchers found lower CACNA2D1 protein levels in schizophrenia patients and reversed symptoms in mice using a synthetic protein without side effects, offering new treatment potential.
- Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine identified a potential biomarker for schizophrenia, finding significantly lower levels of the brain protein CACNA2D1 in cerebrospinal fluid from over 100 people with the disorder.
- Current antipsychotics control hallucinations but fail to improve cognitive issues like disorganized thinking, which often prevents individuals from living independently, according to Northwestern professor Peter Penzes.
- Scientists created a synthetic version of the CACNA2D1 protein; in a genetic mouse model, a single brain injection corrected abnormal circuit activity and behavioral deficits without sedation, reported in Neuron.
- Penzes said identifying human patients who could respond to the treatment is the next step, as researchers work to translate these preclinical findings into potential clinical applications.
- This tandem biomarker-peptide approach establishes a novel treatment strategy that could enable the first therapies targeting cognitive symptoms currently untreated by existing antipsychotics.
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Health Rounds: Researchers find biomarker that could lead to improved schizophrenia treatments
Researchers have identified a biomarker linked to schizophrenia that could lead to new treatments to tackle symptoms of the debilitating mental disorder not addressed by current medicines.
·United Kingdom
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Schizophrenia study finds new biomarker, drug candidate to treat cognitive symptoms
A new Northwestern University study in humans and mice has discovered a novel biomarker of schizophrenia that could also serve as a new drug candidate to treat the cognitive symptoms of the disorder. Schizophrenia affects .5% of the world’s population, including about two million people in the U.S.
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