title: Protease resistant prion proteins are not present in sporadic "poor outcome" schizophrenia.
abstract: Various clinical and epidemiological data have suggested the possibility of infectious mechanisms in schizophrenia. In addition, lengthy prodromal psychiatric symptoms can presage the development of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a prototypical prion disorder. Accordingly, the presence of human protease resistant prion proteins (PrPres) was assessed in postmortem frontal cortical and thalamic tissues from a prospectively accrued and well characterised sample of elderly patients with chronic, sporadic, "poor outcome" schizophrenia using a sensitive immunoblot assay. No PrPres was found in the brains of any of the cases, providing evidence against a role for abnormal prion proteins in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. alveus@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.forename: J Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Trojanowski
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000201:enzymology*; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000201:enzymology*; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011328:Prions / Q000378:metabolism*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000201:enzymology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
chemical_list: D011328:Prions; D010450:Endopeptidases