Novel Protein-Protein Interaction Network of Antipsychotic Drugs and Cognitive Function

Cognitive function is the intellectual activity of mental processes, such as, attention, processing speed, learning and memory, executive function, verbal fluency, and working memory. Cognitive deficits may contribute to functional disability in psychiatric disorders. Therefore, improving cognitive function has the potential to enhance the quality of life and occupational capacity, and reduce disease problems and societal costs. Recent evidence emphasized that conventional antipsychotics effective in treating positive symptoms but have almost no therapeutic benefit on cognitive impairment and produce a poor functional outcome. It has been hypothesized that antipsychotics might induce cognitive impairment or decline in psychiatric disorders. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the network of proteins that may involve in antipsychotic drug-induced cognitive impairment. The results of GeneCards analysis showed 213 target genes of commonly use antipsychotics in schizophrenia, 122 genes associated with cognitive function in schizophrenia, and 28 genes related to antipsychotics and cognitive function in schizophrenia. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of 12 significantly interconnected proteins was generated by the PPI network analysis and clustering method. The 16 significant pathways related to antipsychotic drugs and cognitive function were identified using pathway grouped network analysis. These results demonstrate clue evidence to discover novel target sites of action of antipsychotics that might play a pivotal role in cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.