ArticleeLife2022
Elevated brain-derived cell-free DNA among patients with first psychotic episode - a proof-of-concept study.
Article in eLife, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Circulating Cell-Free DNA Levels in Psychiatric Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Differential DNA-methylation of synaptic genes in CSF and blood in schizophrenia.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Circulating neuron-derived cfDNA for blood-based detection of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative conditions.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Glial and neuronal cell-free DNA in plasma of sporadic bvFTD and late onset primary psychiatric disease patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cell-free DNA in extracellular vesicles: A candidate biomarker of schizophrenia.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- Genome-Wide 5-Methylcytosine and 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Signatures Analysis of Plasma Cell-Free DNA in Schizophrenia.MedComm · 2025Article
- Circulating eosinophil cell-free DNA as a noninvasive biomarker for perforated appendicitis in pediatric patients-a proof-of-concept study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Follow-up Analysis Enhances Understanding of Molecular Residual Disease in Localized Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2025Article
- Diagnostic role of circulating cell-free DNA in schizophrenia and neuro-degenerative disorders.Biomarkers in medicine · 2025Review
- The last imprint: Differential methylation assay for forensic identification of brain tissue and death determination.Journal of biological methods · 2025Article
- Detection of Brain-Derived Cell-Free DNA in Plasma.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The missing hallmark of health: psychosocial adaptation.Cell stress · 2024Article
- The Diagnostic, Prognostic, and Therapeutic Potential of Cell-Free DNA with a Special Focus on COVID-19 and Other Viral Infections.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Six Decades of Dopamine Hypothesis: Is Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor the New D2?Reports (MDPI) · 2023Review
- The role of Extracellular Genomic Materials (EGMs) in psychiatric disorders.Translational psychiatry · 2023Review
- New Perspectives on the Importance of Cell-Free DNA Biology.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Emerging blood-based biomarkers for the detection of parenchymal brain metastasis: Current progress and future perspectives.Neuro-oncology advancesReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a common, severe, and debilitating psychiatric disorder. Despite extensive research there is as yet no biological marker that can aid in its diagnosis and course prediction. This precludes early detection and intervention. Imaging studies suggest brain volume loss around the onset and over the first few years of schizophrenia, and apoptosis has been proposed as the underlying mechanism. Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragments are released into the bloodstream following cell death. Tissue-specific methylation patterns allow the identification of the tissue origins of cfDNA. We developed a cocktail of brain-specific DNA methylation markers, and used it to assess the presence of brain-derived cfDNA in the plasma of patients with a first psychotic episode. We detected significantly elevated neuron- (p=0.0013), astrocyte- (p=0.0016), oligodendrocyte- (p=0.0129), and whole brain-derived (p=0.0012) cfDNA in the plasma of patients during their first psychotic episode (n=29), compared with healthy controls (n=31). Increased cfDNA levels were not correlated with psychotropic medications use. Area under the curve (AUC) was 0.77, with 65% sensitivity at 90% specificity in patients with a psychotic episode. Potential interpretations of these findings include increased brain cell death, disruption of the blood-brain barrier, or a defect in clearance of material from dying brain cells. Brain-specific cfDNA methylation markers can potentially assist early detection and monitoring of schizophrenia and thus allow early intervention and adequate therapy.
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Registered trials
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