The schizophrenia and Toxoplasma gondii connection: Infectious, immune or both?

Adv Ther. 2008 Jun 12. [Epub ahead of print]

The schizophrenia and Toxoplasma gondii connection: Infectious, immune or both?

Tamer GS, Dundar D, Yalug I, Caliskan S, Yazar S, Aker A.

Department of Clinical Microbiology, Kocaeli University, Medical Faculty, Kocaeli, Turkey, guldensonmez@hotmail.com.

INTRODUCTION: RECENT RESEARCH HAS SUGGESTED A POSSIBLE LINK BETWEEN TOXOPLASMIC AGENTS AND SCHIZOPHRENIA. WE AIMED TO ASSESS THIS BY MEASURING TOXOPLASMA GONDII-ASSOCIATED ANTIBODIES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS AND CONTROLS: METHODS: WE USED A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY (ELISA) KIT TO MEASURE THE LEVEL OF IMMUNOGLOBULIN G (IGG) AND IGM ANTIBODIES IN SERUM SAMPLES FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS (N=40) AND FROM A GROUP OF NON-SCHIZOPHRENIC CONTROL SUBJECTS (N=37): RESULTS: AMONG SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS, 16 (40%) SHOWED IGG SEROPOSITIVITY AND TWO (5%) SHOWED IGM SEROPOSITIVITY. AMONG THE CONTROL GROUP, FIVE (13.5%) WERE FOUND HAVE IGG SEROPOSITIVITY AND ONE (2.7%) SHOWED IGM SEROPOSITIVITY. IN OUR STUDY WE FOUND THAT IGG T GONDII ANTIBODIES WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS COMPARED WITH CONTROLS: CONCLUSIONS: THIS STUDY SUPPORTS THE THEORY THAT TOXOPLASMIC AGENTS MAY HAVE A ROLE IN THE AETIOLOGY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA:

PMID: 18563312 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]