Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that distorts thoughts, perceptions, and behavior. Common symptoms include delusions, auditory hallucinations, and disorganized thinking, along with social withdrawal and difficulty showing emotions. Schizophrenia affects less than 1% of the global population and typically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), schizophrenia can be diagnosed based on the presence of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms (Patel KR et al. (2014)). Patients must present two or more of these active-phase symptoms, one of which must be delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech, for at least a one month. However, potential signs of schizophrenia must have been present for at least six months, including this one-month period. Additionally, diagnosis requires the patient to show decreased functionality at work, relationships, or self-care. Since schizophrenia has no cure, patients need lifelong treatment, including nonpharmacological psychosocial therapy and pharmacological anti-psychotic therapy.

WHO - Schizophrenia

Differential Abundance Analysis Results

This section presents the results of the differential protein abundance analysis, visualized through a volcano plot and summarized in the accompanying table for all three comparisons: 1) disease vs. healthy samples, 2) disease vs. all other diseases.