COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR DIAGNOSING AND TREATING NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

• US 20110014610A1
• Filed: 02/05/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford Management Co.)
• Inventors: Evans, Simon J., Jones, Edward G., Casey, Kathleen, Watson, Stanley J., Atz, Mary, Thompson, Robert C., Lopez, Juan F., Myers, Richard M., Li, Jun, Tomita, Hiroaki, Akil, Huda, Byerley, William, Vawter, Marquis P., Rollins, Brandi, Choudary, Prabhakara V., Bunney, William E. JR.
• Application Number:
  US12/701,177
• Publication Number:
  US 20110014610A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/6
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 25/18 Antipsychotics, i.e. neuroleptics; Drugs for mania or schizophrenia
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 25/22 Anxiolytics
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 25/24 Antidepressants
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 25/28 for treating neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system, e.g. nootropic agents, cognition enhancers, drugs for treating Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia
• CPC Class Codes: C12Q 1/6883 for diseases caused by alterations of genetic material
• CPC Class Codes: C12Q 2600/136 Screening for pharmacological compounds
• CPC Class Codes: C12Q 2600/156 Polymorphic or mutational markers
• CPC Class Codes: C12Q 2600/158 Expression markers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2500/00 Screening for compounds of potential therapeutic value
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2500/04 Screening involving studying the effect of compounds C directly on molecule A (e.g. C are potential ligands for a receptor A, or potential substrates for an enzyme A)
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2800/28 Neurological disorders
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2800/30 Psychoses; Psychiatry
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2800/302 Schizophrenia
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2800/304 Mood disorders, e.g. bipolar, depression
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/573 for enzymes or isoenzymes
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/6893 related to diseases not provided for elsewhere
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/6896 Neurological disorders, e.g. Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

The present invention provides methods for diagnosing mental disorders (e.g., psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders such as major depression disorder and bipolar disorder). The invention also provides methods of identifying modulators of such mental disorders as well as methods of using these modulators to treat patients suffering from such mental disorders.

Claims

1. A method for determining whether a subject has or is predisposed for a mental disorder, the method comprising the steps of:

(i) obtaining a biological sample from a subject;

(ii) contacting the sample with a reagent that selectively associates with a polynucleotide or polypeptide encoded by a nucleic acid that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a nucleotide sequence of Tables 1-14; and

(iii) detecting the level of reagent that selectively associates with the sample, thereby determining whether the subject has or is predisposed for a mental disorder.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reagent is an antibody.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reagent is a nucleic acid.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reagent associates with a polynucleotide.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the reagent selectively associates with a polynucleotide comprising at least one of the SNPs listed in Table 6.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the regent associates with a polypeptide.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the level of reagent that associates with the sample is different from a level associated with humans without a mental disorder.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the biological sample is obtained from amniotic fluid.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the mental disorder is a psychotic disorder or a mood disorder.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample is derived from brain tissue or lymphocytes.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the sample is derived from brain tissue.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the sample is derived from a brain region selected from the group consisting of the anterior cingulate cortex (AnCg), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), cerebellar cortex (CB), superior temporal gyrus (STG), parietal cortex (PC), nucleus accumbens (nAcc), and amygdala (amy).

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the level of reagent that associates with the sample is higher than a level associated with humans without a mental disorder.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the psychotic disorder is schizophrenia.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the mood disorder is major depression disorder or bipolar disorder.

16-46. -46. (canceled)