Infectious agents and immune responses in schizophrenia : a case control study /
Schizophrenia is a chronic and persistent psychiatric illness with a worldwide distribution. It is a less well understood disease and is diagnosed mainly by clinical evaluation of the patients. The exact causal mechanism of schizophrenia is still unknown; however, genetic and environmental factors a...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Kuantan, Pahang :
Kulliyyah of Medicine, International Islamic University Malaysia,
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Click here to view 1st 24 pages of the thesis. Members can view fulltext at the specified PCs in the library. |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Schizophrenia is a chronic and persistent psychiatric illness with a worldwide distribution. It is a less well understood disease and is diagnosed mainly by clinical evaluation of the patients. The exact causal mechanism of schizophrenia is still unknown; however, genetic and environmental factors are implicated in the disease etiology. Extensive and continuous research has not revealed the role of well defined genetic factors in the etiopathogenesis of the disease, although twin concordance studies and genome-wide association studies show involvement of genetic factors but they do not tell the complete story. Thus, researchers are looking into environmental factors such as infectious agents and certain immune mechanisms that may play some part in the disease pathogenesis. Studies have shown association of Toxoplasma gondii and several viruses including Herpes simplex viruses (HSVs), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein Barr Virus (EBV), Borna disease virus (BDV) and influenza viruses with schizophrenia. Furthermore studies have also shown certain abnormal immune responses in schizophrenia such as abnormal levels of cytokines e.g., interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ). However, majority of these studies have been conducted in Western countries among Caucasian population and there is a paucity of information in this regard in tropical regions like Malaysia. This study was designed to determine the association of two infectious agents namely cytomegalovirus and T. gondii along with immune cytokines IL-2, IL-6 and IFN-γ with schizophrenia. In this study 90 subjects from various ethnicities including 45 patients with schizophrenia confirmed by psychiatrists and 45 age matched healthy individuals as control subjects were enrolled in the study from Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan and the general population of Kuantan. Written informed consent was obtained and subjects were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire followed by taking blood samples. The questionnaire interview depicted the sociodemographic, clinical and behavioral profile of the subjects. Blood samples were stored at -70°C and later analyzed at the Basic Medical Sciences laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan. The sera were analyzed for antibodies against CMV and T. gondii by commercially available enzyme immunoassay kits. IL-2, IL-6 and IFN-γ levels were also measured by respective enzyme immunoassay kits available commercially. No significant difference was observed for CMV and T. gondii between the patient and control groups. However, there was a significant decrease in serum IL-2 and IFN-γ in the schizophrenic patients but no significant difference for serum IL-6 was demonstrated between the groups. In conclusion, the study suggests that an association of active infection or reactivation of the studied infectious agents with schizophrenia is unlikely. The study extends support to the available literature that abnormal immune mechanisms are probably involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | xviii, 119 leaves : ill. ; 30cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-110). |