Rhodes CH, Granger R, Bowen E (2019) Towards a near-term clinical diagnostic for a novel molecular subtype of schizophrenia

The authors recently reported† identifying a novel distinction between "type 1" schizophrenics who have a dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) transcriptome similar to controls and "type 2" schizophrenics who have thousands of differentially expressed genes in their DLPFC. That distinction is based on molecular studies which require autopsy tissue and is, therefore, of limited clinical utility. Extending the previous autopsy study, we have identified several PET imaging targets which are differentially expressed in the DLPFC of the “type 1”, but not “type 2” schizophrenics. PET tracers already exist for these targets, potentially enabling a near-term clinical diagnostic for schizophrenic subtype.

† Bowen E, Burgess J, Granger R, Kleinman J, Rhodes CH (2019) DLPFC transcriptome defines two molecular subtypes of schizophrenia. Translational Psychiatry (in press).