A review of the recent literature on the lipid and protein profile in schizophrenic individuals
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SCH) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders characterized by impaired motivation and cognition. It is a severe chronic disease. The pathophysiological mechanisms of SCH are still being studied and no effective therapy can prevent or treat cognitive deficiencies and symptoms caused by the disease. Thus, the present study aims to find possible relationships between this pathology and some biomarkers, such as lipids, cytokines or proteins, that can assist in the early diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of SCH. A descriptive review of articles published in the indexed databases PubMed, MedLine, Lilacs and Scielo was carried out, with the descriptors: “serum profile” and “schizophrenia”, using the Boolean operator AND and searching for articles in English and Portuguese, published in the last 5 years, that were related to the serum profile of lipids, cytokines or proteins in schizophrenic individuals. Twenty four articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 13 studies were associated with changes in lipid metabolites, 6 analyzed the cytokine profile and 5 articles studied serum protein levels in schizophrenic individuals. The results showed significant differences in schizophrenic individuals compared to control groups in: serum lipid levels, such as high density lipoproteins (HDL), low density lipoproteins (LDL), total cholesterol (CT), triglycerides (TGs) and several others; levels of cytokines, such as certain interleukins (IL) and interferons; and in protein levels, such as high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CPR), heavy gamma immunoglobulin constant 1, Hil region of immunoglobulin V-III lambda chain, G72 protein and others. Also, changes in the levels of certain biomarkers were associated with the development of symptoms of SCH: (1) high concentrations of LDL and CT were related to the increase in impulsive actions and depressive, suicidal and self-aggressive behaviors; (2) disorders of TG levels favored severe symptoms, such as depression; (3) high content of free fatty acids (FFA) increases the oxidative stress in the central nervous system, stimulating the pathophysiology of the disease; (4) high levels of IL-3 were associated with worsening of symptoms in schizophrenics; (5) IL-17 levels were negatively correlated with alogy, formal thinking disorder and inattention; (6) levels of IL-6 and interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R) had a positive correlation with the severity of symptoms, measured by the negative and positive syndromes scale (PANSS); (7) levels of IL-10 showed a negative correlation with negative symptoms of the disease and serum levels of IL-4 had a positive correlation with negative symptoms of the disease; and (8) elevated levels of cadherin 5 were present in schizophrenic individuals with a predominance of positive symptoms. These results provide extremely relevant information about potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and monitoring of the progression and severity of schizophrenia, in addition to being able to support future studies, which are even aimed at developing new therapies for the disease.
Keywords: Mental disorder. Serum biomarkers. Schizophrenia.
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