BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Psychiatry

Sec. Schizophrenia

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1556079

BDNF gene polymorphisms and BDNF serum concentration in schizophrenia patients: A pilot study

Provisionally accepted
Anastasiia S BoikoAnastasiia S Boiko1*Irina A MednovaIrina A Mednova1Ekaterina V MikhalitskayaEkaterina V Mikhalitskaya1Diana Z PaderinaDiana Z Paderina1Dmitry A PetkunDmitry A Petkun1Elena G KornetovaElena G Kornetova1Nikolay A BokhanNikolay A Bokhan1,2Svetlana A IvanovaSvetlana A Ivanova1,2
  • 1Mental Health Research Institute, Tomsk National Research Medical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia
  • 2Siberian State Medical University, Tomsk, Tomsk Oblast, Russia

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Objectives. The search for the genetic basis of the leading symptom domains of schizophrenia is of interest. BDNF is a universal neurotrophin that promotes brain development and neuroplasticity. Our aim was to study polymorphisms of the BDNF gene and serum levels of BDNF in schizophrenia and to analyze the concentration of this marker depending on clinical and genetic characteristics. Methods. A clinical and biological examination of 123 patients with paranoid schizophrenia (F20.0, ICD-10) was conducted. The control group consisted of 193 healthy individuals. Genotyping of polymorphisms (rs6265 and rs11030104) was performed by RT-PCR. BDNF concentration was determined using xMAP technology. Statistical data processing was performed in SPSS software. Results. A lower BDNF concentration was found in schizophrenia patients than in healthy individuals. Clinical characteristics of the disease, such as duration of the disease and leading clinical symptoms do not affect the level of BDNF. The continuous type of course is characterized by a tendency to decrease the BDNF serum concentration compared to the episodic type. The distribution of rs6265 genotypes differed significantly between the groups of schizophrenia patients and healthy individuals. The TT genotype was more common among the patients and had a predisposing effect on schizophrenia. Serum levels of BDNF did not differ between the patients with different genotypes. Conclusions. Our results support a potential value of studied BDNF protein and gene as a neurobiological marker for schizophrenia pathogenesis and clinical characteristics.

Keywords: Schizophrenia, BDNF, gene polymorphism, biomarker, neuroplasticity

Received: 06 Jan 2025; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Boiko, Mednova, Mikhalitskaya, Paderina, Petkun, Kornetova, Bokhan and Ivanova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Anastasiia S Boiko, Mental Health Research Institute, Tomsk National Research Medical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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