Jan 20, 2020

Professor Fang Liu Publishes Exciting New PTSD Research

Fang Liu

Dr. Fang LiuU of T Physiology sat down with Professor Liu to discuss her lab’s recent breakthroughs in the study of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. 

Could you explain your research in more detail?

My lab specializes in looking for protein interactions between neurotransmitter receptors and other receptors or proteins. Over the years, my lab has discovered a number of these protein complexes to be elevated in various brain diseases. These elevated complexes can serve as both diagnostic markers of disease and simultaneously as targets for new treatments.

Quote from interview in white text on blue backgroundAnd this new paper details a receptor-protein interaction your lab identified?

Yes. We identified a protein complex comprised of the glucocorticoid receptor and a chaperone protein called FKBP51, that is much higher in patients with PTSD. This elevated protein complex is very specific to PTSD. We tested patients with depression or people exposed to trauma but who did not develop PTSD and neither group shows an elevation in this new protein complex. This has great clinical potential to identify which victims of trauma will go on to develop PTSD - an early detection or predictive test. This will require a lot more work beyond what we report in our paper.

What can potentially be done with this information?

The most significant potential application of our discovery is to enable a preventative intervention for PTSD in victims of trauma. We hypothesize that there should normally be a transient spike in our protein complex after a traumatic event. In people who go on to develop PTSD, the protein complex remains persistently and abnormally elevated. The peptide we developed can reduce the amount of the protein complex and thus could be used as a sort of antidote, given to victims of trauma with an elevated protein complex level, to normalize the complex and prevent PTSD later.

Congratulations! What are the next steps? Quote from interview in white text on blue background

So far we've only done pre-clinical studies of the peptide. Before clinical trials could start, there are many studies needed to ensure that the peptide or an alternative drug with the same action, is safe and has all the practical features needed for use in humans. For example, the peptide or drug has to get into the brain in the right amount, be readily absorbed into the body and be free of serious side effects. 

I’ve already received many emails and phone calls from patients who would volunteer to be in a trial. One former soldier said they tried every available therapy and none work. This really motivates us to work on translating our basic science discovery into a clinical treatment, but drug development is a long process with many regulatory and scientific hurdles to overcome.

You’re very passionate about this work.

I started here at CAMH and U of T in 1993 and psychiatry has definitely become my passion. We still don’t know the cause or mechanisms underlying most major mental illnesses, and this is both a scientific challenge and a major health care priority that has not always been recognized in the past. 

What would you say to a student considering research, either in Physiology or in general?

Physiology is one of the core disciplines in medicine, focusing on understanding how the body works, including the brain. This forms the foundation for all effective treatments and specifically in neuroscience, there are many exciting unanswered questions that a young scientist could work on.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.