When people think of brain disorders, they’ll think of the more common diseases but not schizophrenia. Parkinson’s Disease has Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali to help raise awareness of the disease. Alzheimer’s has been more commonly observed in older patients and funding for it has been steady. Schizophrenia, on the other hand, has been quiet with its effects.
Schizophrenia affects about one percent of the population, so 1 out of 100 people have the illness. There are three categories symptoms can be placed in. Positive, which contains the symptoms most would associate schizophrenia with, hallucinations, delusions and thought disorders. Negative, associated with behavior and emotions, reduced feelings of pleasure in life and having difficulty beginning and finishing activities. Cognitive, changes in memory and thinking, having troubles focusing and problems with their working memory.
Currently, there are only effective treatments for schizophrenia, such as anti-psychotics or psycho-social therapies. These treatments only help reduce the symptoms of the positive nature, and not the other two categories. The exact schizophrenia is still unknown, but by continuing research of the illness will be beneficial in finding a cure.
New research has shown the Wnt pathway can be useful in finding a cure for schizophrenia. The Wnt pathway is essential for neural development and circuit functioning. Anti-psychotics inhibit dopamine receptor. These types of drugs are the norm for treating schizophrenia, but by looking into another pathway associated with schizophrenia a cure can be found.
Glycogen synthase kinase (GSK3β), which regulates β-catenin. β-catenin is necessary for gene transcription, when phosphorylated causes proteasome, instead of gene transcription and reduces its amount in the cell. The disrupted signaling may play a critical role in schizophrenia.
Wnt is a signaling pathway that interacts with GSK3β, as well as dopamine too. By looking into the different signaling pathways to GSK3β, a cause for schizophrenia may be found. This will lead to a cure to be found for a disease with harsh effects on the human.
Understanding Schizophrenia
