Cell cycle abnormality is a cellular phenotype in OCD

Abnormal indices of cell cycle regulation have been reported in multiple psychiatric disorders. Though reports specific to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are scant, numerous studies have highlighted partly common underlying biology in psychiatric disorders, cell cycle regulation being one such process. In this study, we therefore aimed to explore cell cycle in OCD. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate these effects in OCD. We also evaluated the effect of in vitro fluoxetine, commonly used serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) in OCD patients, on cell cycle regulation. The effects of both disease (OCD) and treatment (SRI) were assessed using lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), derived from OCD patients and healthy controls, as a model system. LCLs were treated with 10μM of fluoxetine for 24 h, and the percentage of cells in each phase of the cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry. We observed a lower proportion of cells in the G2/M phase in OCD cases than controls. The findings suggest that cell cycle dysregulation could be peripheral cellular phenotype for OCD. Among cases, all of whom had been systematically characterized for SRI treatment response, LCLs from non-responders to SRI treatment had a lower proportion of cells in G2/M phase than responders.