Many of the differentially expressed genes have an indirect link to disease endophenotypes. For instance, RIC3 is a chaperone protein affecting maturation and expression of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (Halevi et al., 2003; Williams et al., 2005), agonists of which have shown promise in treating schizophrenia (Olincy et al., 2006; Olincy and Stevens, 2007). Two IgLON immunoglobin superfamily members implicated in synaptogenesis and neuritogenesis were also enriched in CORT+ cells: OPCML and NTM (Hashimoto et al., 2009; Sanz et al., 2015; Yamada et al., 2007). Loss of these genes is linked with autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay (Minhas et al., 2013). The presence of these disease genes at a specific stage of interneuron differentiation and maturation suggests these diseases may involve specific neurodevelopmental processes that occur late in brain development.
