Protein findings open avenues to treatment of schizophrenia

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“Proteins are the workhorses of all cells and make up most of a cell’s structure and functions,” says Professor Mackay-Sim, whose Griffith team included Dr Yongjun Fan and Mr Nicholas Matigian.

“Cells live in a very dynamic environment and protein synthesis, which is so important for brain development, function and learning, is impacted by environmental and genetic factors.

“It is now becoming clearer that many small genetic variants are linked because they share control of cellular functions, in this case protein synthesis.

“If protein synthesis is altered even slightly, many cell functions would also be subtly changed. This could affect brain development and adult brain function in schizophrenia.

“This work helps make sense of the rapid advances in genetics that have identified hundreds of risk genes for schizophrenia.”