Oxidative stress has been identified as a possible element in the neuropathological processes of schizophrenia(SCZ).Alteration of oxidative stress markers has been reported in SCZ studies,but with inconsistent results.To evaluate the risk of oxidative stress to schizophrenia,a meta-analysis was conducted,including five markers of oxidative stress [thiobarbituric reactive substances(TBARS),nitric oxide(NO),catalase(CAT),glutathione peroxidase(GP) and superoxide dismutase(SOD)] in SCZ patients versus healthy controls.This study showed that TBARS and NO significantly increased in SCZ,while SOD activity significantly decreased in the disorganized type of SCZ patients.No significant effect size was found for the activities of GP and CAT in SCZ patients(P>0.05).Egger’s regression test observed no significant publication bias across the oxidative stress markers,but found high heterogeneities in all the 5 markers.The subgroup analysis suggested that the ethnicity,sample size of patients and sample sources may contribute to the heterogeneity of the results for TBARS,NO and SOD.The result further demonstrated the involvement of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
ZHANG Ming1,2,ZHAO ZhongMing3,HE Lin1,2,4 & WAN ChunLing1,2 1 Bio-X Center,Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders(Ministry of Education),Shanghai Jiao Tong University,Shanghai 200030,China
我国在精神分裂症的遗传学和生命组学研究方面取得了很大进展,如在全基因组关联分析(genome-wide association study,GWAS)方面工作获得了一系列成果.随着我国对重大疾病转化医学的逐步关注和重视,利用在精神分裂症上已经获得的广泛和深入的研究结果,寻找精神分裂症各种临床应用的生物标记物研究,系统性地建立适合于类似精神分裂症这类复杂疾病的早期诊断、干预和预防的临床咨询和应用体系等将是该疾病转化医学方面可实施的方法和案例.精神分裂症的转化医学方面还涉及精神分裂症患者的个体化用药方案建立.药物疗效和药物不良反应的个体差异具有较复杂的环境和遗传背景,结合精神分裂症的遗传学病因和药物作用的遗传学差异,将有效发挥治疗药物的功效,并降低重大不良反应在敏感个体上的发生.对精神分裂症这类给国家和社会带来极其重大负担的重大疾病,积极推动我国在此类疾病上的基础研究成果转化和转化医学的实施具有重要的社会效应和积极的带动作用.
Currently, there is great interest in identifying genetic variants that contribute to the risk of developing autism spectrum disor- ders （ASDs）, due in part to recent increases in the frequency of diagnosis of these disorders worldwide. While there is nearly universal agreement that ASDs are complex diseases, with multiple genetic and environmental contributing factors, there is less agreement concerning the relative importance of common vs rare genetic variants in ASD liability. Recent observations that rare mutations and copy number variants （CNVs） are frequently associated with ASDs, combined with reduced fecundity of individuals with these disorders, has led to the hypothesis that ASDs are caused primarily by de novo or rare genetic muta- tions. Based on this model, large-scale whole-genome DNA sequencing has been proposed as the most appropriate method for discovering ASD liability genes. While this approach will undoubtedly identity many novel candidate genes and produce important new insights concerning the genetic causes of these disorders, a full accounting of the genetics of ASDs will be incomplete absent an understanding of the contributions of common regulatory variants, which are likely to influence ASD liability by modifying the effects of rare variants or, by assuming unfavorable combinations, directly produce these disorders. Because it is not yet possible to identify regulatory genetic variants by examination of DNA sequences alone, their identitication will require experimentation. In this essay, I discuss these issues and describe the advantages of measurements of allelic expression imbalance （AEI） of mRNA expression for identifying cis-acting regulatory variants that contribute to ASDs.
