Synaptic proteomics as a means to identify the molecular basis of mental illness

Synapses are centrally involved in many brain disorders, particularly in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental ones. However, our current understanding of the proteomic alterations affecting synaptic performance in the majority of mental illnesses is limited. As a result, novel pharmacotherapies with i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Reig-Viader, Rita|||0000-0002-6893-6177, Sindreu, Carlos|||0000-0001-6730-8278, Bayés, Àlex|||0000-0002-5265-6306
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:287813
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/287813
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.09.011
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Meta-analysis
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Proteomics
Psychiatric disorders
Synapse
Descripción
Sumario:Synapses are centrally involved in many brain disorders, particularly in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental ones. However, our current understanding of the proteomic alterations affecting synaptic performance in the majority of mental illnesses is limited. As a result, novel pharmacotherapies with improved neurological efficacy have been scarce over the past decades. The main goal of synaptic proteomics in the context of mental illnesses is to identify dysregulated molecular mechanisms underlying these conditions. Here we reviewed and performed a meta-analysis of previous neuroproteomic research to identify proteins that may be consistently dysregulated in one or several mental disorders. Notably, we found very few proteins reproducibly altered among independent experiments for any given condition or between conditions, indicating that we are still far from identifying key pathophysiological mechanisms of mental illness. We suggest that future research in the field will require higher levels of standardization and larger-scale experiments to address the challenge posed by biological and methodological variability. We strongly believe that more resources should be placed in this field as the need to identify the molecular roots of mental illnesses is highly pressing.