Metabolic biomarkers of risperidone-induced weight gain in drug-naïve patients with schizophrenia

Yuying Qiu; Yeqing Dong; Wei Sun; Gang Li; Mei Juan Li; Yongping Zhao; Changyong Jiang; Jie Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1144873

Metabolic biomarkers of risperidone-induced weight gain in drug-naïve patients with schizophrenia

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Apr 20:14:1144873. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1144873. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yuying Qiu¹, Yeqing Dong¹, Wei Sun¹, Gang Li^{1

2}, Mei Juan Li¹, Yongping Zhao¹, Changyong Jiang¹, Jie Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Center of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
² Chifeng Anding Hospital, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Chifeng, China.

Abstract

Background: Risperidone is a commonly prescribed antipsychotic drug with a potential side effect of weight gain. However, the pathophysiological mechanism is still poorly understood. Here, we sought to identify potential biomarkers of risperidone-induced weight gain by using a targeted metabolomics approach.

Methods: We enrolled 30 subjects who received risperidone monotherapy for 8 weeks from a prospective longitudinal cohort study for drug-naïve schizophrenia patients. Plasma metabolites were measured by targeted metabolomics Biocrates MxP® Quant 500 Kit at baseline and 8-week follow-up.

Results: After 8 weeks of risperidone treatment, the levels of 48 differential metabolites were upregulated, including lysophosphatidylcholines (2), phosphatidylcholines (PC) (8), cholesteryl esters (CE) (3), and triglycerides (35), while 6 differential metabolites namely PC aa C38:6, methionine (Met), α-aminobutyric acid (AABA), TrpBetaine, CE (22:6), and Taurocholic acid (TCA) were downregulated. Interestingly, the reduction of PC aa C38:6, AABA and CE (22:6) was linearly related with increased BMI. Further multiple regression analysis showed that the changes of PC aa C38:6 and AABA were independent contributors of increased BMI. In addition, baseline levels of PC aa C36:5, CE (20:5) and AABA had positive relationships with the change of BMI.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate phosphatidylcholines and amino acids may serve as biomarkers for risperidone-induced weight gain.

Keywords: biomarkers; risperidone; schizophrenia; targeted metabolomics; weight gain.