Potential target for treating schizophrenia found

It seems like we are reading about cure after cure after cure in the past few weeks. Whether they hold up though is another question. Here's a bit of good news for people suffering or related to suffers of schizophrenia

Scientists believe that a protein known as DISC1 is responsible for the development of schizophrenia and can be found in the cortex

The cortex is a part of the brain that plays a key role in memory, attention, awareness, thought, language and consciousness. While it is well-known that defects in this region are associated with schizophrenia, it is not understood how these defects develop.

A study has shown that DISC1 acts as a molecular switch that controls two key stages in the development of the cortex. Specifically how cells in the cortex multiply in development and how brain cells migrate within the cortex to specific locations that allow for correct functioning

“These processes are critical for normal brain function. However, as these new results show that DISC1 is a protein whose function can be dynamically regulated, it opens up the possibility of pharmaceutical and biotech companies designing new medicines able to correct defects in DISC1 that lead to the debilitating disease of schizophrenia.

Potential target for treating schizophrenia found

Wow this is really good news for me and many others like me! thanks very much for sharing! I hope something comes out of this discovery soon because I really hate the current types of antipsychotics.