Seroprevalence survey of selective anti-neuronal autoantibodies in patients with first-episode schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia.
Autoimmune encephalopathy caused by autoantibodies against neuronal cell-surface proteins in the brain is a newly discovered disease category associated with psychiatric disorders. Correct diagnosis of this condition relies on the detection of specific autoantibodies in the blood or cerebral spinal fluid in addition to the clinical presentations. The study aimed to understand the seroprevalence of selective anti-neuronal autoantibodies in our patients with schizophrenia. First, we screened for six anti-neuronal autoantibodies in an archived blood sample collected from patients with the first-episode schizophrenia. The six autoantibodies including antibodies against N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors 1 and 2, γ-butyric acid receptor type B1 (GABARB1), leucine-rich glioma inactivated-1 (LGI1) protein, and contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) protein. A total of 78 plasma samples (46 males and 32 females) were investigated; however, no positive case was identified. In this second study, we screened anti-NMDA receptor autoantibodies in a blood sample of 234 patients with chronic schizophrenia (133 females and 101 males) including 48 patients defined as treatment resistance. None of this sample was detected as positive. The negative findings in this study suggest that the seroprevalence of autoantibodies against neuronal surface proteins might be low in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department and Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: cchen3801@gmail.com.
Chia-Hsiang
CH
Chen
Department of Psychiatry, Yuli Mental Health Research Center, Yuli Branch, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan.
Min-Chih
MC
Cheng
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chih-Min
CM
Liu
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chen-Chung
CC
Liu
Department of Psychiatry, Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan.
Ko-Huan
KH
Lin
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hai-Gwo
HG
Hwu
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D055815:Young Adult
D001323:Autoantibodies; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis; Anti-neuronal autoantibodies; Autoimmune encephalopathy; Chronic schizophrenia; Differential diagnosis; First-episode schizophrenia