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Group leader: Félicien Karege Group name: Cell Signalling and Psychiatric Disorders Affiliation: Psychiatry |
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Université de Genève
Neuroscience center
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Group leader: Félicien Karege Group name: Cell Signalling and Psychiatric Disorders Affiliation: Psychiatry |
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Research activities:
Selected Publications:
Contact: |
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Impaired signaling, morphological abnormalities and risk genes are found in both schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disoder (BD). Our group is currently investigating both biochemical and genetic diseasec-associated abnormalities in the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K), Akt/PKB and Glycogen sythase-kinase-3 (GSK-3) and related molecules (i.e. BDNF). These proteins are involved in key signaling axes of growth factors, neurotransmitters and diverse hormones.
In recent years, we have led research of the BDNFs biology and related molecules (NT-3) in human blood, cell culture and postmortem brain of psychiatric patients. Then, we undertook to investigate the PI3K-PKB-GSK3ß signaling pathways. Since BDNF and the PI3K-PKB-GSK3 signaling pathway are involved in cellular growth and proliferation, we thought that reduced activity of this cascade in mood disorder and psychoses could at least explain the observed neuronal distrophy, and sustain psychotic manifestations. Data suggest that abnormalities- genetic, epigenetic and biochemical- in the PI3K-Akt pathway may be common to both BD and SZ. We sought to test the hypothesis that PI3K-PKB-GSK3 axis related genes are associated with SZ and BD, and determine whether the two disorders show similar patterns of associations and/or methylation, suggesting common mechanisms.