A research team from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has discovered possible biomarkers for schizophrenia risk in people who consume cannabis through the analysis of fatty acids in the blood.
It is known that the risk of developing schizophrenia significantly increases with cannabis consumption, especially when it starts at an early age. Additionally, it is estimated that around 10 percent of cannabis consumers will develop a cannabis use disorder in their lifetime.
Furthermore, nearly one-third of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia also meet the criteria for cannabis use disorder; This disorder affects up to 42 percent of people with schizophrenia.
The study, published in «Scientific Reports,» aimed to clarify why some people who consume cannabis develop schizophrenia, while others do not.
To do this, they compared the fatty acid content in the blood of a group of individuals with schizophrenia who did not consume cannabis, a group who consumed cannabis and developed a cannabis disorder, a group with dual pathology of schizophrenia and cannabis abuse, and a control group of individuals without psychiatric disorders.
«We found significant differences among these groups of individuals. When we compared the levels of certain metabolites (fatty acids), we were able to perfectly differentiate between the three patient populations,» explained UPV/EHU researcher Leyre Urigüen-Echeverría.
These results indicate that there is a modified or different metabolism due to fatty acids that allow the distinction of the group of cannabis consumers with schizophrenia and patients with dual diagnosis. «These molecules could be biomarkers,» said Urigüen.
The expert was very optimistic about this finding. «I believe it is important to find blood biomarkers to help predict the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, such as schizophrenia, due to cannabis consumption, and this study has shown that this is the beginning of this path. Now, this needs to be validated with a larger cohort of individuals than what we analyzed.»
Future research can use the methodology proposed by this study, improving plasma lipidomics in patients, that is, the comprehensive study of fatty acids (lipids).
