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Levels of neuronal pentraxin 2 in plasma is associated with cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia

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Abstract

Rationale

The precise diagnosis and treatment of cognitive impairment remains a major challenge in the field of schizophrenia (SCZ) research. Synaptic dysfunction and loss are thought to be closely related to the occurrence and development of SCZ and may be involved in cognitive dysfunction.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether neuronal pentraxins (NPTXs) plays a role in the etiology of SCZ and provide evidence of its possible therapeutic value a new target for drug development.

Methods

We recruited 275 participants, of whom 148 were SCZ from psychiatric hospital and 127 healthy control (HC) subjects from communities. Plasma concentrations of NPTXs were measured in HC and SCZ at baseline and after 8 weeks of antipsychotic treatment. The MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Battery was used to evaluate cognitive function. Furthermore, the brain is parcellated into 246 subregions using the Brainnetome atlas, and we extracted regional white matter volumes from magnetic resonance images of the SCZ groups.

Results

Plasma NPTX2 levels were significantly lower in SCZ compared with HC subjects, but were significantly raised in SCZ after 8 weeks of antipsychotic treatment compared to baseline. In addition, baseline plasma NPTX2 levels were positively correlated with cognitive performance.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that NPTX2 may reveal novel aspects of disease etiology and act as a promising target for new drug development.

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Data Availability

Data presented in this paper are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the patients and the healthy volunteers for their participation, as well as the physicians and technicians who helped us collect clinical data in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University. We thank the International Science Editing (http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) for editing our manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81971252, U1904130, 82171498, and 82001407), Major science and technology projects of Henan Province (201300310200), Science and technology research project of Henan Province (222102310130), Open program of Henan clinical research center for mental disorders (2021-zxkfkt-006), Medical science and technology research project of Henan Province (LHGJ20210541, LHGJ20220637, and LHGJ20190475), Youth project of medical science and technology of Henan Province (SBGJ202103094), and Practical Innovation Training Program for University Students of Henan Province (202210472017).

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Author notes

  1. Jiahui Zhou and Xiaojing Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Henan Mental Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China

    Jiahui Zhou, Xiaojing Li, Xiujuan Wang, Yongfeng Yang, Aoyang Nai, Han Shi, Jingyuan Zhao, Jianhong Zhang, Shuang Ding, Yong Han, Qing Liu, Luwen Zhang, Tengfei Chen, Luxian Lv & Wenqiang Li

  2. Henan Key Lab of Biological Psychiatry, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China

    Jiahui Zhou, Xiaojing Li, Yongfeng Yang, Yong Han, Qing Liu, Luwen Zhang, Tengfei Chen, Luxian Lv & Wenqiang Li

  3. International Joint Research Laboratory for Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Henan, Xinxiang, China

    Jiahui Zhou, Xiaojing Li, Yongfeng Yang, Yong Han, Qing Liu, Luwen Zhang, Tengfei Chen, Luxian Lv & Wenqiang Li

  4. State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Bing Liu

  5. Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China

    Bing Liu

  6. Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Weihua Yue

  7. Key Laboratory for Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Beijing, China

    Weihua Yue

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  1. Jiahui Zhou
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Contributions

LL, WL, WY, and JZ designed the study and wrote the protocol. JZ and XL managed the literature searches and analysis. XW, YY, HS, JYZ (Jingyuan Zhao), JHZ (Jianhong Zhang), and SD conducted sample selection. AN, YH, QL, LZ, TC, BL, XL, and JZ undertook the data management and statistical analysis. JZ wrote the first draft of the manuscript. JZ and WL revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Luxian Lv or Wenqiang Li.

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Zhou, J., Li, X., Wang, X. et al. Levels of neuronal pentraxin 2 in plasma is associated with cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia. Psychopharmacology 241, 865–874 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-023-06515-3

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