Schwarz Emanuel, Bahn Sabine
Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QT, UK.
Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2008 Mar;8(2):209-16. doi: 10.1586/14737159.8.2.209.
Schizophrenia is a complex neuropsychiatric disease but, despite extensive research efforts over the last 100 years, the etiology of this disorder remains elusive. Diagnosis is still based on a subjective, interview-based process, which may not align with the biological underpinnings of the symptoms. This old-fashioned descriptive approach contributes to the low treatment success and impedes early intervention, which is thought to be crucial for successful therapy. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover biochemical analytes that facilitate an objective and reliable diagnosis. Disease markers might also have utility for tracking treatment success and compliance, as well as the discovery of novel drug targets. For schizophrenia and psychiatric disorders at large, analyzing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is an intuitive choice due to its close proximity to the brain and its clinical accessibility in the living patient. Although numerous studies have aimed to identify potential diagnostic markers in the CSF of schizophrenia patients, as yet not one has found its way to clinical application. Here, we review molecular alterations of proteins and metabolites that have been identified in schizophrenia CSF and discuss their potential applicability as diagnostic markers.
精神分裂症是一种复杂的神经精神疾病，尽管在过去100年里进行了广泛的研究，但这种疾病的病因仍然难以捉摸。诊断仍然基于主观的、基于访谈的过程，这可能与症状的生物学基础不一致。这种老式的描述性方法导致治疗成功率低，并阻碍早期干预，而早期干预被认为是成功治疗的关键。因此，迫切需要发现有助于客观可靠诊断的生化分析物。疾病标志物也可能有助于跟踪治疗成功率和依从性，以及发现新的药物靶点。对于精神分裂症和一般精神疾病来说，分析脑脊液（CSF）是一种直观的选择，因为它与大脑距离很近，并且在活体患者中临床可及。尽管许多研究旨在确定精神分裂症患者脑脊液中的潜在诊断标志物，但尚未有一个标志物进入临床应用。在这里，我们回顾了在精神分裂症脑脊液中已确定的蛋白质和代谢物的分子改变，并讨论了它们作为诊断标志物的潜在适用性。
