Serum interleukin-6 in schizophrenic patients.
We examined serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) in 90 schizophrenic patients in remission and 90 normal controls using enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA). We found a significant difference in variation between the schizophrenic and the control groups (F = 10.9, P less than .002). The difference in distribution was also statistically significant by Kolmogorov-Smirnov (chi-square = 45.0, P less than .001). Eight patients had aberrantly high serum levels of interleukin-6. Since the higher levels of IL-6 are characteristically found in several autoimmune disorders, our finding suggests a link between schizophrenia and immune response, which could be either autoimmune or a process induced by reactivation of viruses.
Shintani
F
F
Department of Neuro-psychiatry, Keio University, School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Kanba
S
S
Maruo
N
N
Nakaki
T
T
Nibuya
M
M
Suzuki
E
E
Kinoshita
N
N
Yagi
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology
D015850:Interleukin-6