title: Differential correlations between inflammatory cytokines and psychopathology in veterans with schizophrenia: potential role for IL-17 pathway.
abstract: Pro-inflammatory cytokines have been consistently reported to be elevated in schizophrenia patients. However, it is not known whether cytokines influence the presentation of psychotic symptoms. To address this issue, we evaluated the relationship between levels of inflammatory molecules and psychopathological parameters in patients with schizophrenia. We hypothesized that severity of symptoms would correlate with increased levels of inflammatory cytokines. Serum samples from 47 veterans with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls were tested for levels of 38 cytokines/chemokines involved in regulation of immune/inflammatory reactions using a Millipore multiplex bead array in a Luminex 100 system. We found significantly increased levels of GRO, MCP-1, MDC, and sCD40L, and significantly decreased levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12p70, and IL-17, in schizophrenia patients compared to controls. In addition, we observed positive correlations between levels of cytokines and the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) scores in subjects with schizophrenia for G-CSF, IL-1β, IL1ra, IL-3, IL-6, IL-9, IL-10, sCD40L and TNF-β. Pathway analyses showed these cytokines to be part of the IL17 pathway. Using principal component analyses, we found the factor that included these cytokines and IL-17 to be associated with positive, general and total PANSS scores. These results suggest that alterations in this pathway may play a role in development of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: South Texas Veterans Health Care System, 7400 Merton Minter Boulevard, San Antonio, TX 78229-4404, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr., San Antonio, TX 78229, USA. Electronic address: Dimitre.dimitrov@va.gov.
authors.forename: Dimitre H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Dimitrov
authors.forename: Shuko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yantis
authors.forename: Celina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Valdez
authors.forename: R Madelaine
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Paredes
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Braida
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Velligan
authors.forename: Consuelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Walss-Bass
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011599:Psychopathology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014728:Veterans
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D020381:Interleukin-17
keywords: Cytokines; Inflammation; Psychosis; Schizophrenia; Veterans