Researchers discover new blood based biomarkers for schizophrenia

Toronto, ON – GeneNews Limited, a company focused on developing blood-based biomarker tests for the early detection of diseases and personalized health management, says it has published a study data using its own platform technology to identify complex changes in blood gene expression patterns that may be indicative of underlying risk factors for schizophrenia.

This study data is reported in a paper entitled, “Similarities and Differences in Peripheral Blood Gene-Expression Signatures of Individuals With Schizophrenia and Their First-Degree Biological Relatives” that will be published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B and is currently available online.

“This study shows that we can identify a gene signature associated with schizophrenia distinct from non-schizophrenia. The study is an important step towards identifying biomarkers for the early detection of this brain disorder,” said Dr Ming Tsuang, principal investigator for the reported study, Behavioral Genomics Endowed Chair and Director of the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Behavioral Genomics, and Director of the Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Harvard School of Public Health.

“Discovering this gene expression signature also demonstrates one of the many applications of our proprietary platform technology, the Sentinel Principle(R), which has already been used to identify biomarkers associated with a variety of diseases and conditions, including colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer, bladder cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis and Crohn’s disease,” said Gailina J Liew, president and chief operating officer of GeneNews.