Calorimetric monitoring of the serum proteome in schizophrenia patients

Schizophrenia (Sz) is a multifactorial mental disorder with high frequency. Due to its chronic and relapsing nature there is a strong need for biomarkers for early psychosis detection and objective evaluation of drug (usually antipsychotics) treatment effect. Here differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is applied to thermodynamically characterize the blood serum proteome of paranoid schizophrenia patients on routine antipsychotic treatment in comparison to healthy controls. DSC revealed significant modifications in the thermodynamic behavior of blood sera from Sz patients, the overall thermal profile being changed in all Sz cases under study. The calorimetric profiles were classified in four distinct groups, reflecting different thermal stabilization of the high-abundance portion of the serum proteome. The observed positive (thermograms becoming closer to the healthy profile) or negative (thermograms deviating stronger from the healthy profile) proteome thermal stability switches and the Sz thermograms persistence in patients' follow-up corresponded well with the effect of drug treatment.