Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2026, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (2): 691-692.doi: 10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-24-00962

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Liquid biopsies in psychiatric disorders: Identifying peripheral biomarkers of brain health

Jennifer L. Payne, Sarven Sabunciyan*   

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA (Payne JL) Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA (Sabunciyan S)
  • Online:2026-02-15 Published:2025-05-23
  • Contact: Sarven Sabunciyan, PhD, ssabunc1@jhmi.edu.
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by Department of Defense grant HT9425-24-1-0030 a grant from the Stanley Medical Research Institute (to SS). Dr. Payne has served as a consultant for SAGE Therapeutics, Brii Biosciences, and Pure Tech Health. Dr. Payne has received an honorarium from Karuna Therapeutics for speaking to the company.  Dr. Payne owns a patent entitled “Epigenetic Biomarkers of Postpartum Depression.” Dr. Sabunciyan has no conflicts of interest to report.

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Abstract: The inability to access brain tissue has greatly hindered our ability to study and care for individuals suffering from psychiatric and neurological conditions. Critics have questioned efforts to develop peripheral blood biomarkers in neurological and psychiatric disorders based on the assertion that disease pathology is limited to the brain. The discovery that all tissues, including the brain, release extracellular vesicles (Raposo and Stoorvogel, 2013) and cell free DNAs (Chan et al., 2013) into various body fluids has provided a potential way to measure activity from inaccessible tissues like the central nervous system (CNS) and has given rise to the term “liquid biopsy.” The development of liquid biopsies that can diagnose and predict the course of psychiatric and neurological disorders would be transformative. The ability to predict episodic events such as mania, depression, and risk for suicide would be particularly useful for psychiatric care as it would enable the development of interventions that prevent mortality and improve outcomes. Additionally, biomarkers that are informative about drug response and aid in treatment decisions would be a significant advance in psychiatric care as it would prevent patients from having to endure multiple courses of ineffective treatments and side effects.