Inventors: Assist. Prof. Dr. Asmaa Mohammed Saud/ Department of Biological Technologies, College of Science, University of Baghdad
Mr. Basheer Aied Ahmed/ Faluja
Abstract
The prevalence of schizophrenia is 1%, and it is a debilitating disorder that often results in a shortened lifespan. Peripheral blood samples are good candidates to investigate because they can be easily drawn. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA transcripts. They regulate the expression of genes by bindingto the 3’-untranslated region (UTR) of mRNAs and pointing them to degrade. The association between miR-107 gene expression and schizophrenia in a sample of Iraqi patients was investigated. Forty schizophrenia patients (20 males and 20 females) were enrolled and their age range was 25– 73 years.
In addition to patients, 20 apparently healthy control subjects were also enrolled in the study. They matched patients for ethnicity (Iraqis), gender (20 males and 20 females), geographical variation (urban and rural) and age (25-35Y, 36-45Y and Y>46). The samples were analyzed by two steps Real Time – PCR techniques for detecting the expression of miR-107 in patients. Schizophrenia patients showed statistically significant up regulation of miR-107 in both male and female groups compared to healthy controls. There is no significant difference between males and females in control group (p=0.207), whereas; schizophrenia patients group showed significant difference between them (p=0.022). It was found that significant difference in expression between control and patients groups in both males and females with p-value (p=0.0094) and (p=0.0075) respectively.
The results showed that no significant difference among the age groups in control (p=0.411) while, there was a significant difference in schizophrenia patients (p=0.0039). Moreover, all these groups (25-35Y, 36-45Y and Y>46) showed significant differences between control and schizophrenia patients with P-value (p=0.0074, p=0.0103 and p=0.0097) respectively. This study showed that no significant difference urban control and rural control (p=0.126) but significant difference between these two groups in schizophrenic patients (p=0.0108). In comparison between control and patients, there was significant difference in urban and rural groups with P-value (p=0.0063 and p=0.0091) respectively.