RNA cargo from extracellular vesicles in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid can differentiate schizophrenia spectrum disorders from non-psychiatric controls II

Biomarkers are critical tools to identify patient populations, reduce the incidence of misdiagnosis, assist in the proper characterization of patient phenotypes, stratify subgroups of patients and evaluate complexities of patient response to treatment.

In this study, we evaluated small (< 200 nucleotide) and long (> 200 nucleotide) RNAs found in extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and controls (non-psychiatric volunteers). As EVs carry cargo from all tissues in the body, they can act as a potential proxy for the tissue of origin, including cells from the brain. We compared the transcriptomic features of EVs from these two biofluids and examined their ability to discriminate between cases and controls.