Chunk #17 — Results — Network analysis of gene expression of control and SZ hiPSC NPCs identifies perturbations in neuronal maturation and cellular adhesion
To assess the relevance of the SZ hiPSC NPC GS to the developing brain, it was compared with gene co-expression networks constructed based on the mRNA expression data from 16 cortical and subcortical structures across the full course of human brain development, including fetal and early childhood postmortem brain tissue (BrainSpan Atlas, http://www.brainspan.org/). The hiPSC NPC GS is most significantly enriched in the co-expressed gene modules from hippocampus (cell cycle module, P=5.7e–17, 2.2-fold enrichment), medial prefrontal cortex (cell cycle module, P=5.9e–14, 2.4-fold enrichment; synaptic transmission module, P=4.5e–8, 2.9-fold enrichment), posterior superior temporal cortex (synaptic transmission module, P=3.5e–14, 3.7-fold enrichment), inferolateral temporal cortex (neuropeptide signaling module, P=3e–11, 3.6-fold enrichment), and striatum networks (synaptic transmission module, P=5.3e–11, 2.1-fold enrichment). Interestingly, the upregulated genes in the hiPSC NPC GS are far more significantly enriched in these brain region-specific networks than the downregulated genes.
