POLYGLUTAMINE CONTAINING PROTEINS AND USE THEREOF FOR DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CAG REPEAT-LINKED NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

摘要

The present invention relates to diseases caused byCAG repeat expansions. More particularly, the present invention relatesto neuropsychiatric diseases caused by CAG repeat expansions andeven more particularly to schizophrenia and major depression. Inparticular, the present invention relates to the identification of at leastoneprotein containing polyglutamine arrays, which acts as a marker for thepathogenesis of a neuropsychiatric disorder and more particularly forschizophrenia and major depression. The present invention furtherrelates to diagnosis and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders linked topolyglutamine tracts-containing proteins. The present invention furtherrelates to diagnosis and treatment methods of neuropsychiatric disordersbased on a targeting of the CAG/CTG repeat expansions encoding apolyglutamine tract. The present invention further provides methods ofdetecting nucleic acids encoding the polyglutamine tracts in a sample; kitscontaining nucleic acid probes or ligands of the polyglutamine tract,bio-assays using the nucleic acid sequences, and protein sequences of thepresent invention or ligands specific thereto to diagnose, assess, orprognose a mammal afflicted with or predisposed to develop aneuropsychiatric disorder linked to the presence ofpolyglutamine-containing proteins.