Journal Article

‘Whole-Body’ Perspectives of Schizophrenia and Related Psychotic Illness: miRNA-143 as an Exemplary Molecule Implicated across Multi-System Dysfunctions

Waddington, John L., Zhen, Xuechu, Wang, Xiaoyu

2024

Overview

A wide array of biological abnormalities in psychotic illness appear to reflect non-cerebral involvement. This review first outlines the evidence for such a whole-body concept of schizophrenia pathobiology, focusing particularly on cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, immunity and inflammation, cancer, and the gut–brain axis. It then considers the roles of miRNAs in general and of miRNA-143 in particular as they relate to the epidemiology, pathobiology, and treatment of schizophrenia. This is followed by notable evidence that miRNA-143 is also implicated in each of these domains of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes, immunity and inflammation, cancer, and the gut–brain axis. Thus, miRNA-143 is an exemplar of what may be a class of molecules that play a role across the multiple domains of bodily dysfunction that appear to characterize a whole-body perspective of illness in schizophrenia. Importantly, the existence of such an exemplary molecule across these multiple domains implies a coordinated rather than stochastic basis. One candidate process would be a pleiotropic effect of genetic risk for schizophrenia across the whole body.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: Animals / Brain research / Brain-Gut Axis / Cancer / Cardiovascular disease / Cardiovascular diseases / Cardiovascular Diseases - genetics / Cardiovascular Diseases - metabolism / Cytokines / Development and progression / Diabetes / Diabetes mellitus / Diabetes Mellitus - genetics / Diabetes Mellitus - metabolism / Epidemiology / Gene loci / Glucose / Granulocytes / Gut-brain axis / Health risk assessment / Humans / Illnesses / Immunity / Inflammation / Inflammation - genetics / Inflammation - metabolism / Kinases / Life expectancy / Lymphocytes / Magnetic resonance imaging / Mental disorders / Metabolic syndrome / Metabolic Syndrome - genetics / Metabolic Syndrome - metabolism / Microbiota / MicroRNA / MicroRNAs / MicroRNAs - genetics / MicroRNAs - metabolism / miRNA / miRNA-143 / Neoplasms - genetics / Neoplasms - metabolism / Nervous system / Neurophysiology / Neutrophils / pathobiology / Post traumatic stress disorder / Proteins / Psychosis / Psychotic Disorders - genetics / Psychotic Disorders - metabolism / psychotic illness / Review / Schizophrenia / Schizophrenia - genetics / Schizophrenia - metabolism / Thyroid gland / Type 2 diabetes / whole-body illness