Can Your Blood Reveal Who’s at Risk of Cannabis-Linked Schizophrenia?
A breakthrough study reveals that fatty acids in the blood may hold the key to understanding the biological link between schizophrenia and cannabis use.
By comparing individuals with schizophrenia, cannabis use disorder, both, or neither, researchers found distinct metabolic patterns that could serve as early warning signs, potentially helping predict who is most at risk of developing a psychiatric disorder due to cannabis.
Investigating Schizophrenia and Cannabis Use Disorder
A recent study by the UPV/EHU, published in Scientific Reports, analyzed and compared the blood fatty acid profiles of individuals with schizophrenia, cannabis use disorder, and those diagnosed with both conditions. The goal was to uncover potential biomarkers and better understand the biological connection between these two psychiatric disorders. The findings may offer a promising tool for identifying individuals at risk through blood-based markers.
Cannabis is one of the most widely used substances worldwide, with an estimated 228 million users aged 15 to 64. Research shows that the risk of developing schizophrenia increases significantly with cannabis use, particularly when use begins at an early age. Around 10% of cannabis users are expected to develop cannabis use disorder at some point in their lives. Notably, nearly one-third of people with schizophrenia also meet the criteria for cannabis use disorder, and as many as 42% of individuals with schizophrenia are affected by it.
Uncovering Biological Differences
To understand why some cannabis users develop schizophrenia while others do not, the UPV/EHU’s Neuropsychopharmacology group investigated biological differences between these groups. They managed to detect “potential biomarkers in the blood that could help predict the risk some people have of developing a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia if they use cannabis,” explained Leyre Urigüen, coordinator of the study published recently in Scientific Reports.
So, the research group compared the fatty acid content in the blood of samples taken from “a group of individuals with schizophrenia who did not use cannabis, a group who used cannabis and have developed a cannabis use disorder, a group with a dual pathology of schizophrenia with cannabis abuse, and a control group of individuals with neither a psychiatric disorder nor drug use,” explained Dr. Urigüen. In the study they wanted to shed light on what happens “with people who use cannabis and develop schizophrenia; how do they differ from those who use cannabis and never develop a psychiatric disorder?” she added.
Fatty Acids as Diagnostic Clues
“We found considerable differences between these groups of individuals. By comparing the quantities of certain metabolites (fatty acids), we were able to perfectly differentiate between the three patient populations,” stressed the UPV/EHU researcher. “This indicates that there is an altered or different metabolism between these three groups.” In this study, the Neuropsychopharmacology research group at the UPV/EHU detected “that some fatty acids differentiate between the cannabis-using group and the groups with schizophrenia and dual-diagnosis patients. These molecules could potentially be biomarkers,” said Urigüen.
A Step Toward Predictive Tools
The researcher is very hopeful about this finding: “I think it is important to be capable of finding blood biomarkers that can help predict the risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, such as schizophrenia due to cannabis use, and this study has proven to be the start of this way forward. Now this has to be disproved by studies with a larger cohort of people than the one we have analysed.”
In this respect, the researcher stressed that another of the strengths of the study is “the fine-tuning of plasma lipidomics in patients; in other words, the complete study of fatty acids (lipids). We are proposing a way of working that can be replicated by other groups, and that way, headway can be made in the specification of these metabolites.”
The IBeA research group has developed this approach under the direction of the UPV/EHU professor Nestor Etxebarria. Both groups are working side by side on “various approaches to the study in which they are trying to find answers to these and many other questions.”
Reference: “Uncovering metabolic dysregulation in schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder through untargeted plasma lipidomics” by Aitor Villate, Maitane Olivares, Aresatz Usobiaga, Paula Unzueta-Larrinaga, Rocío Barrena-Barbadillo, Luis Felipe Callado, Nestor Etxebarria and Leyre Urigüen, 28 December 2024, Scientific Reports.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-83288-5
Leyre Urigüen-Echeverria is a lecturer on the degree course in Medicine and on the PhD course in Pharmacology at the UPV/EHU. Nestor Etxebarria-Loizate is a lecturer on the degree course in Biotechnology and heads the UPV/EHU’s Department of Analytical Chemistry.