Schizophrenia affects 1% of the global population or approximately 24 million people as per World Health Organization report in 2022. Up to this date, continuous study and treatment development has been done to alleviate effects of schizophrenia.
A recent study in fact, found that a protein called complement component (C4) is active in the brains of people with schizophrenia. The protein is secreted via astrocytes which are part of the brain’s immune system which functions to connect brain cells together and remove unnecessary connections.
protein.
Such findings is pertinent to devising a method to lower C4 levels. Researchers have done so by developed large-quantities of C4-secreting human astrocytes using stem cells.
In doing so, researchers are able to examine different drugs to see if they could affect C4 production. They screened 464 drugs and identifies approximately 20 of them that reduced C4 secretion from astrocytes. The findings of the study are deemed as a good opportunity to forward potential therapeutic drugs in large-scale screening efforts.
Louis Cona, MD, medical director at DVC Stem who is one of the spectators of the study shared the implications of the study as “far-reaching” as it not only improves our understanding of brain function and astrocyte interaction to various brain cells, but more importantly, allow new opportunities to create efficient and detailed investigation of these cells and its linkage to schizophrenia.
The study’s target is to further identify pathways and regulators that could lead to the development of effective and targeted therapies for conditions like schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and other neuroinflammatory disorders.
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