ArticleScientific reports2026
Plasma circulating free DNA in chronic schizophrenia: a case-control study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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7 authors.
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Abstract
Circulating cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) reflects ongoing cell injury and inflammation, but its role in schizophrenia remains unclear. We conducted a case-control study of 33 clinically stabilized patients with chronic schizophrenia and 30 healthy volunteers. Plasma cf-DNA was quantified by fluorometry and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) targeting nuclear (cf-nucDNA) and mitochondrial (cf-mtDNA) genomes. In unadjusted analyses, patients showed higher cf-nucDNA than controls (p = 0.020), while cf-mtDNA did not differ. After adjusting for age, sex, and smoking, the case-control difference was no longer significant; however, this result should be interpreted with caution due to substantial confounding between disease status, male sex, and smoking habits within our cohort. No associations were found between cf-DNA and symptom severity, despite a predominance of negative symptoms in the study group. These findings suggest that the observed variance in cf-DNA levels is heavily influenced by demographic and lifestyle factors, which complicates the isolation of a distinct disease-specific biological signal in this study group. While ddPCR is a sensitive tool for psychiatric research, current results do not support the routine clinical application of cf-DNA as a biomarker.
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