클리닉소개

THE SEOUL YOUTH CLINIC

연구 및 치료성과

Impaired migration of autologous induced neural stem cells from patients with schizophrenia and implications for genetic risk for psychosis
Journal
Schizophrenia Research
Vol
245
Page
225-234
Author
Junhee Lee, Sehyeon Song, Juhee Lee, Jisoo Kang, Eun Kyung Choe, Tae Young Lee, Myong-Wuk Chon, Minah Kim, Seong Who Kim, Myung-Suk Chun, Mi-Sook Chang, Jun Soo Kwon
Year
2022

Abstract

Stem cell technologies have presented explicit evidence of the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia. However, few studies investigated relevance of the schizophrenia genetic liability and the use of genetic reprogramming on pluripotent stem cells to the impaired neurodevelopment shown by stem cells. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the cellular phenotypes of induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) derived without genetic modification from patients with schizophrenia and from genetic high risk (GHR) individuals. Three patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, 3 GHR individuals who had two or more relatives with schizophrenia, and 3 healthy volunteers participated. iNSCs were derived using a small molecule-based lineage switch method, and their gene expression levels and migration capabilities were examined. Demographic characteristics were not different among the groups (age, χ2 = 5.637, P = .060; education, χ2 = 2.111, P = .348). All participants stayed well during the follow-up except one GHR individual who developed psychosis 1.5 years later. Migration capacity was impaired in iNSCs from patients with schizophrenia (SZ-iNSCs) compared to iNSCs from GHR individuals or controls (P < .001). iNSCs from a GHR individual who later developed schizophrenia showed migratory impairment that was similar to SZ-iNSCs. Gene expression levels of Sox2 in SZ-iNSCs were significantly lower than those in controls (P = .028). Defective migration in genetically unmodified SZ-iNSCs is the first direct demonstration of neurodevelopmental abnormalities in schizophrenia. Additionally, alterations in gene expression in SZ-iNSCs suggest mechanisms by which genetic liability leads to aberrant neurodevelopment.