Identification of schizophrenia biomarkers using a metabolomic method
When evaluating potential drug efficacy it is advantageous to identify patient sub-populations that may be more receptive to the treatment. For many disease areas, specific biomarkers have been discovered to highlight these sub-populations, as well as identify specific indicators of a disease in general.
Schizophrenia is a devastating illness which greatly reduces the quality of life for the patient, causes extreme hardship for their families, and applies significant socioeconomic burden. Traditional diagnosis has relied on subjective judgement of the clinician, but due to the high variability in disease presentation, there has been a high rate of misdiagnosis. The group used a metabolomics approach to identify biomarkers that could be used to more accurately identify schizophrenic patients.
Using PBMCs obtained from large numbers of both schizophrenic and healthy patients, metabolites were prepared and subjected to GC-MS analysis. This quantitative approach resulted in discovery of a biomarker panel that was able differentiate schizophrenia patients from healthy controls.
These results could potentially be used to assist clinicians towards a diagnosis, as well as potential targets for treatment.