title: A systematic, quantitative review of blood autoantibodies in schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Schizophrenia is associated with immune system dysfunction, including an increased prevalence of autoimmune disorders and autoantibodies. We performed a systematic, quantitative review of self-reacting blood antibodies in patients with schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified articles by searching PubMed, PsychInfo, and ISI, and the reference lists of identified studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-one of 111 studies identified met the inclusion criteria. There was a significant increased prevalence of positive titers for 20 different autoantibodies in patients with schizophrenia compared to controls. The prevalence of positive anti-cardiolipin IgG and NMDA receptor titers was also significantly increased in subjects with first-episode psychosis versus controls (p<0.01). Absolute titers for anti-cardiolipin IgG and IgM, and nerve growth factor were significantly increased in patients with schizophrenia compared to controls (p<0.02 for each).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Schizophrenia is associated with an increased prevalence of multiple autoantibodies, although there is marked study heterogeneity, and correlations between autoantibodies and clinical features are inconsistent. This area merits more research evaluation, especially controlling for potential confounding factors such as clinical status, age, genetic background, psychotropic medications, BMI, and smoking.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, United States.
authors: Amaka
authors: A
authors: Ezeoke
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Mellor
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Buckley
authors: Brian
authors: B
authors: Miller
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007154:Immune System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies
keywords: Autoantibody; Autoimmune; Epidemiology; First-episode psychosis; Immunology; Meta-analysis; Schizophrenia