Betacellulin: defining a novel sub-type in schizophrenia

精神分裂症是一种严重的终身精神障碍，影响世界0.7%的人口，仅有部分有效的对症治疗。其原因尚不清楚，因此目前无法找到治疗方法。一个很有希望的候选药物是β细胞素，这是一种生长因子，在精神分裂症患者的大脑和血液中含量非常低。人们对它在大脑中的作用知之甚少，这个项目试图确定它与精神分裂症的相关性，作为开发新疗法的一步。

Schizophrenia is a severe lifelong mental disorder affecting 0.7% of the world population with only partially effective symptomatic treatments. Its cause is unknown and thus cures cannot be developed currently. A promising candidate is betacellulin a growth factor which is very reduced in the brain and blood of people with schizophrenia. Little is known about its role in the brain and this project seeks to identify its relevance to schizophrenia as a step to develop new treatments.