QKI6B is upregulated in schizophrenic brains and predicts GFAP expression

• Schizophrenia is a highly heritable disorder with a heterogeneous symptomatology. Research increasingly indicates the importance of the crucial and often overlooked glial perturbations within schizophrenic brains. Within this study, we examined an isoform of quaking (gene encoding an RNA-binding protein that is exclusively expressed in glial cells), known as QKI6B, and an astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), postulated to be under the regulation of QKI. The expression levels of these genes were quantified across post-mortem samples from the prefrontal cortex of 55 schizophrenic brains, and 55 healthy control brains, using real-time PCR. We report, through an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model, an upregulation of both QKI6B, and GFAP in the prefrontal cortex of schizophrenic brains. Previous research has suggested that the QKI protein directly regulates the expression of several genes through interaction with a motif in the target’s sequence, termed the Quaking Response Element (QRE). We therefore examined if QKI6B expression can predict the outcome of GFAP, and several oligodendrocyte-related genes, using a multiple linear regression approach. We found that QKI6B significantly predicts, and possibly regulates the expression of GFAP, but does not predict oligodendrocyte-related gene outcome, as previously seen with other QKI isoforms. 

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NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Genetik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Genetics (hsv//eng)

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