Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness causing significant impairment in personal,
family, social, educational, occupational, and other important areas of life. While
there is no widely accepted endophenotype, peripheral blood cells may serve as an
accessible model of intracellular changes in schizophrenia.We reviewed the literature
on the query "peripheral blood mononuclear cells AND schizophrenia" in Medline (Pubmed),
selecting studies that searched for specific biomarkers of schizophrenia. We considered
both diagnostic biomarkers and biomarkers of therapeutic response, specific schizophrenia
disorders or differential diagnostic biomarkers.We retrieved 41 articles matching
the search criteria, among which were studies that considered changes in the production
of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory markers, proteins, receptors, enzyme activity,
and gene expression as potential biomarkers.Approaches analysing a biological axis
or a group of related biomarkers may hold the greatest promise for identifying schizophrenia.
In addition, pharmacological status, smoking status, inflammatory markers and glucose
metabolites, the presence of comorbidities should be considered. Certain biomarkers,
while not specific for the diagnosis of schizophrenia, may indicate the prognosis
and effectiveness of treatment in the established diagnosis.
