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Upregulation of VDR-associated lncRNAs in Schizophrenia

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Abstract

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) signaling has been found to contribute to the pathology of numerous neuropsychiatric diseases including schizophrenia. Notably, VDR signaling has a functional relationship with many long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) such as SNHG6, LINC00346 and LINC00511. We calculated expression of these lncRNAs in the venous blood of patients with schizophrenia versus healthy individuals. Expression of SNHG6 was significantly higher in cases versus controls (posterior beta = 0.552, adjusted P value < 0.0001). This pattern of expression was detected in both men (posterior beta = 0.556, adjusted P value < 0.0001) and women (posterior beta = 0.31, adjusted P value = 0.005). Expression of LINC00346 was also higher in cases versus controls (posterior beta = 0.497, adjusted P value < 0.0001) and in distinct sex-based comparisons (posterior beta = 0.451, adjusted P value = 0.009 among men and posterior beta = 0.214, P value = 0.004 among women). Expression of LINC00511 was higher in cases versus controls (posterior beta = 0.318, adjusted P value = 0.01). While sex-based comparisons revealed significant difference in expression of LINC00511 among female subgroups (posterior beta = 0.424, adjusted P value = 0.016), such comparison showed no difference among male cases and male controls (adjusted P value = 0.295). The expression levels of SNHG6 distinguished patients with schizophrenia from controls, with AUC = 0.932. LINC00346 and LINC00511 distinguished between the two groups with AUC values of 0.795 and 0.706, respectively. Therefore, these lncRNAs might be used as markers for schizophrenia.

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Availability of Data and Materials

The analyzed data sets generated during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by a grant from the Medical School of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard

  2. Phytochemistry Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reyhane Eghtedarian

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

    Motahareh Seyedi

  4. Men′s Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Farkhondeh Pouresmaeili

  5. Cancer Gene Therapy Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Science, Zanjan, Iran

    Shahram Arsang-Jang

  6. Skull Base Research Center, Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Taheri

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  1. Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard
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  2. Reyhane Eghtedarian
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  3. Motahareh Seyedi
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  4. Farkhondeh Pouresmaeili
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  5. Shahram Arsang-Jang
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  6. Mohammad Taheri
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Contributions

MT and SGF wrote the manuscript and revised it. RE and FP supervised the study and performed the experiment. SAJ analyzed the data. MS was the clinical consultant and assessed patients for inclusion in the study. All authors approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Taheri.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent forms were obtained from all study participants. The study protocol was approved by the ethical committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

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Ghafouri-Fard, S., Eghtedarian, R., Seyedi, M. et al. Upregulation of VDR-associated lncRNAs in Schizophrenia. J Mol Neurosci 72, 239–245 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-021-01901-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-021-01901-y

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