Knockdown of TSPAN8 gene expression in the SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line

Bipolar disorder (BD) has an estimated heritability of about 80%. Different pathways and candidate genes may contribute to the pathogenesis of BD, but definite mechanisms are yet unresolved. In a previous study, we identified the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4500567, located in the upstream region of Tetraspanin 8 (TSPAN8), to be associated with bipolar disorder (BD). The SNP´s minor allele results in a predicted binding site for the transcription factor Nuclear Factor Interleukin 3, regulated (NFIL3); luciferase assays confirmed allele-specific TSPAN8 expression levels. To define the global effect of altered TSPAN8 gene expression, we performed a knockdown of TSPAN8 in SH-SY5Y cells followed by microarray analysis.