Skin cells suggest schizophrenia may start in the womb

The skin cells of four adults with schizophrenia provide an unprecedented “window” into how the disease began before they were born.

Scientists call the findings the first proof of concept for the hypothesis that a common genomic pathway lies at the root of schizophrenia—and say the work is a step toward the design of treatments that could be administered to pregnant mothers at high risk for bearing a child with schizophrenia, potentially preventing the disease before it begins.

The next step in the research is to use these induced pluripotent stem cells to further study how the genome becomes dysregulated, allowing the disease to develop.

“We will utilize this strategy to grow cerebral organoids – mini-brains in a sense – to determine how this genomic dysregulation affects early brain development and to test potential preventive or corrective treatments,” Stachowiak said.

UB co-authors with Stachowiak are P. Sarder and E. K. Stachowiak, both assistant professors in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, as well as S. Narla, Y-W Lee and C.A. Benson, all graduate students in the department. K.J. Brennand of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai also is a co-author.

The work is funded by NYSTEM, the Patrick P. Lee Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Source: University at Bufallo