Claudia Gragnoli
University of Florida, USA
Title: Dopamine-prolactin pathway may contribute to the co-morbidity of SCZ and T2D
Biography
Biography: Claudia Gragnoli
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SCZ) and type-2 diabetes (T2D) are clinically associated, and common knowledge attributes this association to side effects of antipsychotic treatment. However, even drug-naïve patients with SCZ are at increased risk for T2D. Dopamine dysfunction plays a central role in SCZ. It is well-known that dopamine constitutively inhibits prolactin (PRL) secretion via the dopamine receptor 2 (DR2D). If dopamine is increased or dopamine receptors hyper-function, PRL may be reduced. During the first SCZ episode, low PRL levels are associated with worse symptoms. PRL is essential in human and social bonding as well as it is implicated in glucose homeostasis. Dopamine dysfunction, beyond contributing to SCZ symptoms, may lead to altered appetite and T2D. To our knowledge, there are no studies of the genetics of the SCZ-T2D comorbidity focusing jointly on the dopamine and PRL pathway in the attempt to capture molecular heterogeneity correlated to possible disease manifestation heterogeneity. We propose new studies to establish the genetic role of PRL and dopamine pathway in SCZ-T2D co-morbidity.