We are pleased to announce that the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioural Reviews (200 points MSHE, IF=7.9) has published a study entitled ‘A systematic review of miRNA expression in schizophrenia spectrum disorders across the blood and the brain’. The co-authors of the paper are Marek Kotas, MD, and Edyta Pawlak, MD, PhD, DSc, Prof. PAS from the Immunopathology Laboratory, as well as Bartłomiej Stańczykiewicz, PhD, DSc, Bartłomiej Sporniak, MD, and Błażej Misiak, Prof. from the Department of Psychiatry at the Wrocław Medical University.

The article provides a systematic review of 77 studies evaluating miRNA expression in the peripheral blood and cerebral cortex of individuals suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Despite the considerable diversity of the studies analysed (a total of 124 miRNAs with altered expression across all articles), a picture emerged of increased expression of many miRNAs in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, which gives hope for the future use of miRNAs as biomarkers of psychotic disorders. The most consistent results concerned two miRNAs – miR-181b-5p and miR-34a-5p – whose increased expression in both the brain and peripheral blood was demonstrated by 8/10 studies analysing them. These molecules interact with pathways related to apoptosis, neuroplasticity, and nerve cell survival, and also indicate a possible link between the biology of nervous system tumours and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Centre (2021/41/B/HS6/02323).

Link to the publication:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763425002933