Platform for systems medicine research and diagnostic applications in psychotic disorders —The METSY project

Publication date: Available online 1 February 2018 Source:European Psychiatry Author(s): Elisabeth Frank, Dieter Maier, Juha Pajula, Tommi Suvitaival, Faith Borgan, Markus Butz-Ostendorf, Alexander Fischer, Jarmo Hietala, Oliver Howes, Tuulia Hyötyläinen, Joost Janssen, Heikki Laurikainen, Carmen Moreno, Jaana Suvisaari, Mark Van Gils, Matej Orešič Psychotic disorders are associated with metabolic abnormalities including alterations in glucose and lipid metabolism. A major challenge in the treatment of psychosis is to identify patients with vulnerable metabolic profiles who may be at risk of developing cardiometabolic co-morbidities. It is established that both central and peripheral metabolic organs use lipids to control energy balance and regulate peripheral insulin sensitivity. The endocannabinoid system, implicated in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, has been shown to be dysregulated in psychosis. It is currently unclear how these endocannabinoid abnormalities relate to metabolic changes in psychosis. Here we review recent research in the field of metabolic co-morbidities in psychotic disorders as well as the methods to study them and potential links to the endocannabinoid system. We also describe the bioinformatics platforms developed in the EU project METSY for the investigations of the biological etiology in patients at risk of psychosis and in first episode psychosis patients. The METSY project was established with the aim to ident...
Source: European Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research