title: Inflammation and the two-hit hypothesis of schizophrenia.
abstract: The high societal and individual cost of schizophrenia necessitates finding better, more effective treatment, diagnosis, and prevention strategies. One of the obstacles in this endeavor is the diverse set of etiologies that comprises schizophrenia. A substantial body of evidence has grown over the last few decades to suggest that schizophrenia is a heterogeneous syndrome with overlapping symptoms and etiologies. At the same time, an increasing number of clinical, epidemiological, and experimental studies have shown links between schizophrenia and inflammatory conditions. In this review, we analyze the literature on inflammation and schizophrenia, with a particular focus on comorbidity, biomarkers, and environmental insults. We then identify several mechanisms by which inflammation could influence the development of schizophrenia via the two-hit hypothesis. Lastly, we note the relevance of these findings to clinical applications in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Electronic address: Feigenka@rwjms.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Feigenson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience Program and Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology, Rutgers University, 52 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020, USA. Electronic address: Kusnecov@rci.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Alex W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Kusnecov
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; University Behavioral Health Care at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 671 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08855, USA. Electronic address: Silvers1@ubhc.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Silverstein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D018448:Models, Immunological; D008959:Models, Neurological; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Animal Models; Biomarkers; Comorbidity; Infection; Inflammation; Schizophrenia