"A lot of people with schizophrenia cannot integrate well into society because of these cognitive deficits. Our discovery could solve these challenges by establishing the basis of a revolutionary and completely novel treatment strategy through a tandem biomarker-peptide therapeutic approach."
"By examining the cerebral spinal fluid of more than 100 schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, the scientists identified a previously unknown, freely circulating form of a brain protein called Cacna2d1. In patients with schizophrenia, levels of this protein signal are reduced compared to controls, which results in overactive or overexcited brain circuits."
"The team created a synthetic version of the protein (named SEAD1) and tested it in a mouse model of genetic schizophrenia. A single injection of SEAD1 into the animals' brains corrected both the abnormal brain circuit activity and the behavioral symptoms."
Current schizophrenia medications address hallucinations and delusions but fail to treat cognitive symptoms like disorganized thinking and executive dysfunction, leaving many patients unable to work or integrate into society. A Northwestern University study examining cerebrospinal fluid from over 100 schizophrenia patients and healthy controls discovered reduced levels of a freely circulating brain protein called Cacna2d1 in patients. This protein reduction causes overactive brain circuits. Researchers created a synthetic version called SEAD1 and tested it in mouse models of genetic schizophrenia. A single brain injection of SEAD1 corrected abnormal brain circuit activity and behavioral symptoms, suggesting a novel biomarker-peptide therapeutic strategy for treating cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.
#schizophrenia-biomarker #cognitive-symptoms-treatment #synthetic-protein-therapy #cerebrospinal-fluid-analysis #cacna2d1-protein
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