St. Jude Reference #SJ-10-0003 and #SJ-12-0020
Description
In Journal of Neuroscience articles published in 2010 and 2012, Dr. Stanislav Zakharenko, M.D., Ph.D. and colleagues reported that elevated levels of the SERCA2 protein contribute to cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. Studies in a mouse model of 22q11 deletion syndrome, a condition characterized by cognitive decline and increased risk of psychiatric disorder, mainly schizophrenia; show SERCA inhibitors rescued neuronal abnormalities found in these mice. Further studies in these mice and other mutant mice that carry a deletion of the Dgcr8 gene show that specific microRNAs that inhibit SERCA2, miR-25 and miR-185, rescue these neuronal abnormalities.
Keywords
SERCA2, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, miRNA, miR-25, miR-185
Granted patents or published applications
US 8,895,511; 9,255, 268; 10,308,933
Related scientific references
Earls LR, Bayazitov IT, Fricke RG, Berry RB, Illingworth E, Mittleman G, Zakharenko SS; Dysregulation of presynaptic calcium and synaptic plasticity in a mouse model of 22q11 deletion syndrome; J Neuroscience 2010 Nov 24;30(47):15843-55;
Earls LR, Fricke RG, Yu J, Berry RB, Baldwin LT, Zakharenko SS; Age-dependent microRNA control of synaptic plasticity in 22q11 deletion syndrome and schizophrenia; J Neuroscience 10 October 2012, 32(41): 14132-14144.
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