Neurodevelopment in schizophrenia: the role of the wnt pathways

Isabella Panaccione; Flavia Napoletano; Alberto Maria Forte; Giorgio D Kotzalidis; Antonio Del Casale; Chiara Rapinesi; Chiara Brugnoli; Daniele Serata; Federica Caccia; Ilaria Cuomo; Elisa Ambrosi; Alessio Simonetti; Valeria Savoja; Lavinia De Chiara; Emanuela Danese; Giovanni Manfredi; Delfina Janiri; Marta Motolese; Ferdinando Nicoletti; Paolo Girardi; Gabriele Sani

doi:10.2174/1570159X113119990037

Neurodevelopment in schizophrenia: the role of the wnt pathways

Curr Neuropharmacol. 2013 Sep;11(5):535-58. doi: 10.2174/1570159X113119990037.

Authors

Isabella Panaccione¹, Flavia Napoletano¹, Alberto Maria Forte¹, Giorgio D Kotzalidis¹, Antonio Del Casale¹, Chiara Rapinesi¹, Chiara Brugnoli¹, Daniele Serata¹, Federica Caccia¹, Ilaria Cuomo¹, Elisa Ambrosi¹, Alessio Simonetti¹, Valeria Savoja¹, Lavinia De Chiara¹, Emanuela Danese¹, Giovanni Manfredi¹, Delfina Janiri¹, Marta Motolese², Ferdinando Nicoletti³, Paolo Girardi⁴, Gabriele Sani⁵

Affiliations

¹ NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy;
² NEUROMED, Pozzilli, Isernia, Italy;
³ NEUROMED, Pozzilli, Isernia, Italy; ; Department of Neuropharmacology, Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Rome, Italy;
⁴ NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy; ; Centro Lucio Bini, Rome, Italy;
⁵ NESMOS Department (Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs), Sapienza University, School of Medicine and Psychology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy; ; Centro Lucio Bini, Rome, Italy; ; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Objectives: To review the role of Wnt pathways in the neurodevelopment of schizophrenia.

Methods: SYSTEMATIC PUBMED SEARCH, USING AS KEYWORDS ALL THE TERMS RELATED TO THE WNT PATHWAYS AND CROSSING THEM WITH EACH OF THE FOLLOWING AREAS: normal neurodevelopment and physiology, neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia, schizophrenia, and antipsychotic drug action.

Results: Neurodevelopmental, behavioural, genetic, and psychopharmacological data point to the possible involvement of Wnt systems, especially the canonical pathway, in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and in the mechanism of antipsychotic drug action. The molecules most consistently found to be associated with abnormalities or in antipsychotic drug action are Akt1, glycogen synthase kinase3beta, and beta-catenin. However, the extent to which they contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia or to antipsychotic action remains to be established.

Conclusions: The study of the involvement of Wnt pathway abnormalities in schizophrenia may help in understanding this multifaceted clinical entity; the development of Wnt-related pharmacological targets must await the collection of more data.

Keywords: Antipsychotic Drugs; Neurodevelopment; Schizophrenia; Wingless (Wnt) signalling..