Novel candidate genes for treatment response to antipsychotics in schizophrenia : evidence from pharmacogenetics in the light of personalized medicine

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The treatment of schizophrenia is based primarily in the use of antipsychotics, however the biological mechanisms of action of these drugs need to be fully elucidated. The measurement of gene expression before and after treatment with an antipsychotic drug can help us understand the genetic mechanisms behind the clinical improvement of the patients, as well as to discern between the genes implicated in the metabolic side effects of antipsychotic drugs. In this review we have selected a series of studies that analyze gene expression from January, 2000 to March, 2015 and we have summarized and compared their results, differentiating between studies carried out on rodents, human blood, post-mortem and in-vitro. The results reflect an increase in the gene expression in a series of pathways including synaptic plasticity, apoptosis, neurotransmitter and lipid metabolism. The data obtained from these studies suggests the implication of an important amount of genes within the mentioned pathways, however the lack of similarities between the characteristics of these investigations make their comparison very difficult and therefore, more researches need to be carried out in order to corroborate these findings.