Molecular signatures and emerging therapeutic targets in schizophrenia: A biomarker-centric perspective in psychiatric disorders.

Psychiatric disorders represent a significant global health challenge, characterized by complex interactions between genetic, environmental, and neurobiological factors. Among these, schizophrenia (SCH) stands out as a particularly debilitating condition marked by heterogeneous clinical manifestations and functional outcomes. Current diagnostic approaches for psychiatric disorders often rely on subjective clinical symptoms due to the absence of definitive biological markers, highlighting the urgency to identify objective biomarkers to enhance diagnostic accuracy, enable early risk detection, predict treatment responses, and guide personalized interventions. Recent advances have identified potential biomarkers in neuroimaging, cerebrospinal fluid, and peripheral blood, focusing on neurotransmitter systems, oxidative stress, inflammatory pathways, and synaptic plasticity. Blood-based biomarkers offer a minimally invasive and accessible alternative to costly and inconsistent neuroimaging or brain tissue analyses. High-throughput RNA sequencing has revealed differentially expressed genes associated with immune dysregulation and inflammation, implicating cytokine signaling, complement activation, and oxidative stress in SCH pathophysiology. These findings provide insights into the disorder's underlying mechanisms and pave the way for targeted therapeutic strategies. Emerging treatments aim to modulate these pathways, with a focus on anti-inflammatory agents, antioxidants, and immune system regulators. In this review, we highlighted that integrating biomarker discovery with innovative therapeutic approaches holds promise for improving diagnostic precision, tailoring treatments, and developing novel therapies that address specific molecular pathways in SCH, ultimately enhancing patient outcomes.