Decreased serum NCAM is positively correlated with hippocampal volumes and negatively correlated with positive symptoms in first-episode schizophrenia patients

Autoantibodies against NCAM1 from patients with schizophrenia cause schizophrenia-related behavior and changes in synapses in mice

“… 12 , 18 The extracellular region of NCAM1 is cleaved by ADAM10 and ADAM17, 27 , 28 and a small amount of its soluble form has been found in serum. Because changes in soluble NCAM1 have been reported in patients with schizophrenia, 16 , 17 , 19 we tested whether autoantibodies against NCAM1 affect the soluble form of NCAM1 in serum. We performed ELISAs to analyze soluble NCAM1 in serum and found that soluble NCAM1 is significantly reduced in patients with schizophrenia ( Figure 1 D).…”

“… 12 , 13 Various studies have been conducted on NCAM1 and schizophrenia; changes in mRNA expression levels and the cleaved soluble form of NCAM1 are associated with schizophrenia. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 Furthermore, NCAM1 knockout and transgenic mice with a dominant-negative form of NCAM1 show schizophrenia-related behavioral changes. 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 Furthermore, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of NCAM1 are associated with schizophrenia.…”

Cell Adhesion Molecules in Schizophrenia Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

“…Serum NCAM levels did not differ between patients with and without metabolic syndrome. According to the literature data, the level of sNCAM is reduced in patients with schizophrenia and in patients with cognitive deficits [ 36 , 40 ]. NCAM’s role in the development of metabolic disorders has not previously been studied, except for the study of its expression in experimental mouse models of type 2 diabetes and the association of genetic variants at NCAM locus with lipid metabolism disorders [ 38 , 67 ].…”

“…Given that NCAM plays an important part in the development of the nervous system, some authors have tested the hypothesis of dysfunction of nervous-system development in schizophrenia; their reports suggest that an altered NCAM level may be one of biomarkers of cognitive impairment [ 35 ]. Literature data also indicate that low concentration of NCAM in serum is associated with a smaller hippocampus volume in first-episode schizophrenia patients [ 40 ].…”