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Published on: October 14, 2021
Serial mitogen-stimulated cytokine production from continuously ill patients with schizophrenia
Mark H Rapaport1, Catherine Bresee
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA. mark.rapaport@cshs.org
Insights
Schizophrenia patients show altered immune responses, with higher interleukin-2 (IL-2) and lower interleukin-6 (IL-6) cytokine levels. This suggests ongoing immune activation in individuals with schizophrenia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimmunology
- Psychiatric disorders
- Immunology
Background:
- Aberrant immune system activation is linked to various diseases and can affect cognitive functions.
- Immune activation has a controversial history of association with schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate mitogen-stimulated cytokine levels in individuals with schizophrenia.
- To compare these levels with those of healthy volunteers to identify immune patterns.
Main Methods:
- Measured serial mitogen-stimulated cytokine levels (IL-2 and IL-6) in 100 stable schizophrenia patients and 51 healthy controls.
- Controlled for variables like medication, smoking, and clinical factors.
Main Results:
- Schizophrenia patients exhibited significantly higher stimulated IL-2 levels compared to controls.
- Patients with schizophrenia showed significantly lower stimulated IL-6 levels than healthy volunteers.
- Observed cytokine differences were independent of medication, smoking, or other clinical variables.
Conclusions:
- Continuously symptomatic, medication-stabilized schizophrenia patients display a distinct cytokine profile.
- This pattern suggests a state of ongoing immune activation in schizophrenia.
- Findings contribute to understanding the neuroimmunological underpinnings of schizophrenia.
Abstract:
Aberrant activation of the immune system has been implicated in an increasingly large number of disease states and can influence cognition, mood, and memory. There is a long and controversial history of reports of immune activation associated with schizophrenia. In this study, we measured mitogen-stimulated cytokine levels serially in 100 medication-stabilized continuously ill subjects with schizophrenia and compared and contrasted them with mitogen-stimulated cytokine levels from 51 normal volunteers. The subjects with schizophrenia had consistently higher mitogen-stimulated IL-2 levels and lower IL-6 levels than the normal volunteers. These effects could not be explained by medications, smoking, or other clinical variables. We conclude that continuously symptomatic medication-stabilized subjects with schizophrenia have a mitogen-stimulated cytokine expression pattern that is suggestive of ongoing immune activation.
