While antipsychotic drugs the symptoms of many people with schizophrenia, around a third of patients resist such treatments. A new study, led by Javier Gonzalez-Maeso of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, suggests that this frustrating intractability depends on how DNA is packaged.
Gonzalez-Maeso and his colleagues found that antipsychotic drugs can suppress the expression of glutamate receptors in the brain, stunting their effectiveness as treatments for schizophrenia. But the researchers also found a way of boosting the effects of antipsychotics—by pairing them with drugs that block the gene suppression pathway. They published their results today (August 5) in Nature Neuroscience.
The finding “represents another important avenue of scientific enquiry in our efforts to enhance the therapeutic response in schizophrenia,” said Peter Buckley, a psychiatrist at Georgia Health Science University who was not involved in the research.
Second-generation antipsychotic drugs target the receptors for two brain signaling chemicals—dopamine and serotonin. ...
