The Emergence of Point-Of-Care Blood-Based Biomarker Testing for Psychiatric Disorders: Enabling Personalized Medicine

Abstract

For psychiatric disorders, repeated failures in converting scientific discoveries into novel drugs has precipitated a crisis and eroded confidence in drug discovery. This review describes how current and future innovations driven by application of biomarkers can help to re-initiate research in this area. This will have positive impact on the field of psychiatry and result in application of sensitive and specific biochemical tests in parallel with the traditional questionnaires for improved diagnosis. Furthermore, application of emerging biosensor tools will facilitate point-of-care testing by fusion of biochemical and clinical data. In this way, patient data will be comprised of past medical histories, biopatterns and prognosis information, resulting in personalized profiles or molecular fingerprints for patients with these conditions.

Multiplexed Nucleic Acid Hybridization Assays Using Single‐FRET‐Pair Distance‐Tuning

“…The frequent discovery of new biomolecules that are involved in the development and progression of human diseases, such as cancer and neurological disorders (e.g., noncoding RNA), and the importance of specific disease signatures that are composed of several different biomarkers have dramatically increased the demand for multiplexed biosensing . More efficient companion diagnostics and personalized therapies require multiplexing technologies, ranging from point‐of‐care testing to high‐throughput screening . Many of these methods, including next‐generation sequencing, polymerase chain reaction and other DNA amplification‐based approaches, microarrays, hybridization and immunoassays, along with molecular logic devices or optical barcoding concepts, rely on photoluminescence (PL) as the readout signal.…”

The value of interleukin 6 as a peripheral diagnostic marker in schizophrenia

“…The application of accurate in vitro diagnostic tools that can accurately classify psychiatric disorders or identify disease subtypes could help to reduce illness duration and cost, including hospital services and loss of work, and improve treatment outcomes. Although such personalized medicine is still expensive, with the lightening speed of new technological development, these costs are rapidly decreasing [ 40 ]. In conclusion, although further studies using a larger cohort of participants are needed, data from the present study suggest that peripheral blood mononuclear cell level of IL-6 mRNA has diagnostic relevancy and predictive value in schizophrenia.…”

Disruptive innovation in psychiatry

“…Use of point-of-care devices, including fingerprick blood collection and the application of microarrays, will enhance the assessment of an abundance of biomarker data (including chromosomal, epigenetic, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), inflammatory cytokine, and nutrient information). 21 It is, however, recognized that we still cannot yet canvass clearly what is occurring behind the blood-brain barrier in the brain itself, and that peripheral biomarkers may not truly reflect this. Further advances in brain-training software also tentatively hold promise, 22 while developments in quantum technology may assist in the creation of a new generation of wearable magnetoencephalograph devices.…”