Altered MHC class I expression in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of nonsmoker patients with schizophrenia

作者：Kano Shin ichi; Nwulia Evaristus; Niwa Minae; Chen Yian; Sawa Akira^*; Cascella Nicola

来源：Neuroscience Research, 2011, 71(3): 289-293.

DOI：10.1016/j.neures.2011.07.1818

• Schizophrenia (SZ)
• Immune molecule
• MHC class I
• Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
• Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
• Complement proteins

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a psychiatric disease with plausible neurodevelopmental etiology. Although genetic studies show significant association of immune molecules loci such as major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I with SZ, it is not clear whether these immune molecules are involved in the pathology observed in SZ brains. MHC class land the classical pathway components of complement system (C1q and 0) have been shown to regulate brain neuronal maturation and function. We have examined the expression of MHC class I and complement protein C3 in two frontal cortical regions of postmortem brains of SZ patients. Since cigarette smoking may modulate MHC class I protein expression and a higher rate of smoking is observed in SZ patients, we studied the expression of MHC class I and C3 in relation to the presence of smoking. We found that MHC class I protein expression is reduced in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) but not in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of nonsmoker SZ patients. We did not observe SZ-associated changes in C3 mRNA expression. Our exploratory research suggests a potential involvement of MHC class I in SZ and implies that smoking might modulate its expression.

• 出版日期2011-11