Microarrays-Enabled Hypothesis Generation: The Suspect Role of FNBP-1 in Neuropsychiatric Pathogenesis Associated with HIV and/or HCVInfection

OBJECTIVE: The spectrum of neuropsychiatric illness (NI) associated with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and/or the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is far reaching and significantly impacts the clinical presentation and outcome of infected persons; however, the etiological and pathophysiological background remains partially understood. The present work was aimed to investigate the potential significance of formin binding protein 1 (FNBP-1)-dependent pathways in NI-pathogenesis by elaborating on previous microarray-based research in HIV and/or HCV-infected patients receiving interferon-α (IFN-α) immunotherapy via a rigorous data mining procedure. METHODS: HG-U133A), in order to evaluate reproducibility of potential NI-related molecular findings in an independent cohort. RESULTS: ) and/or P value from <0.05 to ≤ 0.1) FNBP-1 was identified as the only overlapping marker, which also exhibited a consistent upregulation in association with the development of NI in both cohorts. Previous functional annotation analysis had classified FNBP-1 as molecule with significant enrichment in various brain tissues (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Our current findings are strongly arguing for intensifying research into the FNBP-1-related mechanisms that may be conferring risk for or resistance to HIV- and/or HCV-related NI.