Gene Networks and Blood Biomarkers of Methamphetamine-Associated Psychosis: A Preliminary Integrative RNA-Sequencing Report

The clinical presentation, course and treatment of methamphetamine-associated psychosis (MAP) are similar to that observed in schizophrenia (SCZ) and subsequently MAP has been hypothesized as a pharmacological and environmental model of SCZ. However, several challenges currently exist in accurately diagnosing MAP at the molecular and neurocognitive level before the MAP model can contribute to the discovery of SCZ biomarkers. We directly assessed subcortical brain structural volumes and clinical parameters of MAP within the framework of an integrative genome-wide RNA-Seq blood transcriptome analysis of subjects diagnosed with MAP (N=10), METH-dependency without psychosis (MA) (N=10) and healthy controls (N=10). We used RNA-Sequencing gene expression to characterize molecular signatures associated to METH and MAP status compared to healthy control subjects. Overall design: Peripheral blood luekocytes gene expression was subject to transcriptional analysis for 10 MAP subjects, 10 subjects with METH-dependency without psychotic symptomics and 10 healthy controls.