Endogenous and fluorescent sterols reveal the molecular basis for ligand selectivity of human sterol transporters.

Sterol transport proteins (STPs) play a pivotal role in cholesterol homeostasis and therefore are essential for healthy human physiology. Despite recent advances in dissecting functions of STPs in the human cell, there is still a significant knowledge gap regarding their specific biological functions and a lack of suitable selective probes for their study. Here, we profile fluorescent steroid-based probes across ten STPs, uncovering substantial differences in their selectivity, aiding the retrospective and prospective interpretation of biological results generated with those probes.

Endogenous and fluorescent sterols reveal the molecular basis for ligand selectivity of human sterol transporters.

Sterol transport proteins (STPs) play a pivotal role in cholesterol homeostasis and therefore are essential for healthy human physiology. Despite recent advances in dissecting functions of STPs in the human cell, there is still a significant knowledge gap regarding their specific biological functions and a lack of suitable selective probes for their study. Here, we profile fluorescent steroid-based probes across ten STPs, uncovering substantial differences in their selectivity, aiding the retrospective and prospective interpretation of biological results generated with those probes.

Making bubbles: Targeting VPS41 induces vacuolization and methuosis.

In this issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Liu et al. describe the natural product DMBP as the first tool compound for VPS41. Treatment with DMBP induced vacuolization and methuosis and inhibited autophagic flux in lung and pancreatic cancer cell lines, validating VPS41 as a potential therapeutic target.

Substance use in a large sample of patients with schizophrenia or related disorders and co-morbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and substance use in patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder.

Method: The data were derived from the Genetic Risk and Outcome of Psychosis study. Using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, three groups of in- and outpatients with non-affective psychotic disorder (76.

Craving for cannabis in patients with psychotic disorder, their non-affected siblings and healthy controls: psychometric analysis of the obsessive compulsive drug use scale.

Cannabis use is more common in individuals with non-affective psychotic disorder and their siblings compared to healthy controls. As cannabis use is associated with a greater risk to develop psychotic disorder and an adverse outcome in those who already developed psychosis, it is important to know the role of craving in continued cannabis use and relapse in these vulnerable subjects. Therefore, we examined the validity of the Obsessive Compulsive Drug Use Scale for cannabis (OCDUS-CAN) in patients with non-affective psychotic disorder, their siblings, and healthy controls who all used cannabis in the past year.

Differences in craving for cannabis between schizophrenia patients using risperidone, olanzapine or clozapine.

Substance abuse and psychotic disorders have a high rate of comorbidity. Both disorders are associated with changes in the dopaminergic transmission in the mesocorticolimbic pathways of the brain. Since antipsychotic medications interact with the dopamine receptors in these pathways, these medications could affect craving for substances.

Cannabis use and callosal white matter structure and integrity in recent-onset schizophrenia.

Adolescent-onset cannabis use, compared with adult-onset use, has been associated with a higher risk for developing symptoms of schizophrenia-like psychotic disorders. To test the hypothesis that onset of cannabis use in early adolescence in male schizophrenia patients is associated with abnormalities in white matter structure and integrity, we used high resolution structural and diffusion tensor brain images to compare three groups of patients: those who started regular use of cannabis (1) before the age of 15 years (early-onset cannabis users, n = 10) or (2) at the age of 17 years or later (late-onset cannabis users, n = 8), and (3) those who were cannabis naïve (n = 8). To verify patient findings, we also compared white matter integrity of the three patient groups with that of a healthy control group (n = 10).

White matter connectivity and psychosis in ultra-high-risk subjects: a diffusion tensor fiber tracking study.

This study assessed with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) whether ultra-high-risk subjects who later develop a psychotic disorder (UHR-P) show abnormalities in association white matter fiber tracts as compared to UHR subjects who do not convert to psychosis (UHR-NP) and healthy controls. Participants comprised 17 male UHR subjects and 10 male healthy controls, who received baseline DTI scans before clinical follow-up. The uncinate and arcuate fasciculi, anterior and dorsal cingulate, and subdivisions of the corpus callosum were calculated and visualized, and tract-specific measurements were performed.

White matter fibertracking in first-episode schizophrenia, schizoaffective patients and subjects at ultra-high risk of psychosis.

There is increasing evidence of white matter pathology in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to examine whether white matter abnormalities found with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in previous schizophrenia studies are present in the early phase of the illness. DTI was performed at 3 T on 10 male patients with a first (n = 8) or second (n = 2) psychotic episode of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, 10 male patients at ultra-high risk of psychosis with (pre)psychotic symptoms and 10 healthy controls.

Cessation of cannabis use by patients with recent-onset schizophrenia and related disorders.

Background: Cannabis abuse has been found to be a component risk factor for the onset and poor outcome during the early course of schizophrenia and related disorders. Cannabis use has become a target for prevention and treatment of schizophrenia patients. Therefore, knowledge of factors that influence continuation and cessation of cannabis use is crucial.