{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,15]],"date-time":"2026-08-15T04:29:47Z","timestamp":1786768187595,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786579200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100031478","name":"#NEXTGENERATIONEU","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100031478","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Ministry of University and Research","award":["PE0000006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PE0000006"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Dyslipidemia and inflammation are two hallmarks of schizophrenia (SCZ), but the link between these two conditions remains elusive. We studied 40 SCZ patients and 40 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (CTRL) analyzing serum total, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. In addition, we evaluated, for the first time in SCZ patients, HDL subfractions and surrogate markers of cholesterol intestinal absorption and de novo synthesis together with cholesterol precursors, aiming to address a possible dysregulation of cholesterol metabolism in SCZ. Moreover, we measured serum cytokines to evaluate systemic inflammation. SCZ patients showed an impaired cholesterol absorption, as indicated by serum phytosterols and cholestanol reduction, and a subsequent increase in de novo synthesis, confirmed by the increase in serum lathosterol. However, the last step of cholesterol biosynthesis seems to be impaired, probably for the inhibition of the 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase (DHCR7), as suggested by the significant increase in serum 7-dehydrocholesterol (and its isomer 8-dehydrocholesterol). Consequently, serum HDL cholesterol is significantly reduced with an anti-inflammatory remodeling of its subfractions that likely represents a response to systemic inflammation suggested by the increased serum interleukin-6 and angiopoietin-2 levels. Overall, the impaired cholesterol metabolism in SCZ patients is associated with a pro-inflammatory state, which is responded to by the anti-inflammatory remodeling of HDL subfractions. Improving intestinal cholesterol absorption and reducing endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis could represent putative therapeutic approaches.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27167219","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]],"date-time":"2026-08-13T09:31:09Z","timestamp":1786613469000},"page":"7219","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Potential Link Between Dyslipidemia and Inflammation in Patients with Schizophrenia: Insights from Sterols and HDL Profile Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-8306-8583","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sveva","family":"Bagnasco","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate Franco Salvatore, 80145 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"Dipartimento di Medicina di Precisione in Area Medica, Chirurgica e Critica, Universit\u00e0 di Palermo, 90127 Palermo, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0422-3415","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giuseppe","family":"De Simone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sezione di Psichiatria, Laboratorio di Psichiatria Traslazionale e Molecolare e Unit\u00e0 di Psicosi Resistente al Trattamento, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Scienze della Riproduzione e Odontostomatologia, Universit\u00e0 di Napoli Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1370-9786","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gustavo","family":"Cernera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate Franco Salvatore, 80145 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Universit\u00e0 di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Usiello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate Franco Salvatore, 80145 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco per l\u2019Ambiente e la Salute, Universit\u00e0 degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 81100 Caserta, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7051-5013","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Felice","family":"Iasevoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sezione di Psichiatria, Laboratorio di Psichiatria Traslazionale e Molecolare e Unit\u00e0 di Psicosi Resistente al Trattamento, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Scienze della Riproduzione e Odontostomatologia, Universit\u00e0 di Napoli Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Castaldo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate Franco Salvatore, 80145 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Universit\u00e0 di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1500-0746","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Monica","family":"Gelzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate Franco Salvatore, 80145 Naples, Italy"},{"name":"Dipartimento di Medicina Molecolare e Biotecnologie Mediche, Universit\u00e0 di Napoli Federico II, Via Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"de Bartolomeis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sezione di Psichiatria, Laboratorio di Psichiatria Traslazionale e Molecolare e Unit\u00e0 di Psicosi Resistente al Trattamento, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Scienze della Riproduzione e Odontostomatologia, Universit\u00e0 di Napoli Federico II, 80131 Naples, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1195","DOI":"10.1093\/schbul\/sby058","article-title":"Global epidemiology and burden of schizophrenia: Findings from the global burden of disease study 2016","volume":"44","author":"Charlson","year":"2018","journal-title":"Schizophr. 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