Aberrant alternative splicing of exon II in peripheral blood lymphocytes of drug-naïve schizophrenic patients.

The aim of the study was to characterize the pattern of transcript isoforms of exon II in lymphocytes of the blood as peripheral biomarkers of schizophrenia development and the effectiveness of antipsychotic therapy. We primarily observed an increase in mRNA levels and elevation of alternative variants in a sample of drug-naïve schizophrenic patients compared to the control group. There was no association of the expression level of transcript isoforms with the effectiveness of the antipsychotic therapy.