title: The role of NGF and IL-2 serum level in assisting the diagnosis in first episode schizophrenia.
abstract: Development of reliable diagnostic bio-markers for schizophrenia remains a diagnostic challenge. Serum NGF and IL-2 were analyzed to examine the diagnostic efficiency and predictive capability of these two biomarkers in relation to schizophrenia diagnosis. Thirty neuroleptic naïve subjects with first-episode schizophrenia, thirty patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and twenty-eight healthy control subjects participated in the study. One-way ANOVA demonstrated significantly lower serum IL-2 and NGF among schizophrenic patients and patients with MDD compared with healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to ascertain diagnostic efficiency of serum IL-2 and NGF levels. Area under the ROC curve (AUC) revealed a high level of differentiation between schizophrenic patients and healthy controls for both IL-2 and NGF serum concentrations. Diagnostic efficiency of combined NGF and IL-2 serum levels was also high in schizophrenic patients compared with healthy controls. Serum NGF and IL-2 are promising as potential screening or diagnostic biomarkers for schizophrenia and may be a useful adjunct for clinical assessment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, #295 Xichang Road, Kunming, Yunnan, 650031, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Diana Huang
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Xiaohan
authors.forename: Deyong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Hong Yi
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zuxin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Mingxing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019540:Area Under Curve; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor