Two clusters of serum midkine levels in drug-naive patients with schizophrenia.
Midkine (MK) is a heparin-binding growth factor implicated in various biological phenomena such as development of the hippocampus and anxiety. We evaluated serum MK levels of drug-naive (n=15) and medicated (n=25) patients with schizophrenia, and age- and sex-matched normal controls (n=38). The patients showed two clusters in the levels. Four drug-naive patients (26.7%) and two medicated patients (8.0%) had abnormally high values, but no controls did, there being a significant difference in the numbers (P=0.003, Fisher's exact test). Furthermore, in other patients, the mean MK levels in drug-naive schizophrenia (0.30+/-0.10 ng/ml) were significantly (P=0.018, Fisher's protected least significant difference test) decreased than those in the controls (0.40+/-0.12 ng/ml). These suggest that there are two clusters of serum MK abnormalities in drug-naive patients with schizophrenia.
Shimizu
Eiji
E
Department of Psychiatry, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuou-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan. eiji@faculty.chiba-u.ac.jp
Hashimoto
Kenji
K
Salama
Ragaa H M
RH
Watanabe
Hiroyuki
H
Komatsu
Naoya
N
Okamura
Naoe
N
Koike
Kaori
K
Shinoda
Naoyuki
N
Nakazato
Michiko
M
Kumakiri
Chikara
C
Okada
Sin-ichi
S
Muramatsu
Hisako
H
Muramatsu
Takashi
T
Iyo
Masaomi
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000078792:Midkine; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy
D015415:Biomarkers; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D016207:Cytokines; D000078792:Midkine