EVIDENCE FOR ABERRANT TH1 AND TH2 IMMUNE RESPONSE IN DRUG

NAÏVE FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS

E. Karanikas, E. Ntouros, D. Nasioudis, T. Valamoutopoulos, D.Balaskas, F. Tsompanidou, D. Kourbetis

424 General Military Hospital, Psychiatric Clinic, Thessaloniki, Greece

Introduction-Hypothesis

The inflammatory hypothesis of the aetiopathophysiology of psychosis has been recently suggested. There is evidence from the literature for aberrant immune balance in schizophrenia but the findings are hitherto only minimal regarding the First Episode of Psychosis(FEP).

The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis of differential pattern in cytokines relating to Th 1and Th 2 immune response in FEP.

Methods

Two groups were involved representing drug naïve or minimally treated(<3 days) patients with First Episode Psychosis (FEP, n:28), and healthy controls (HC, n:23). All subjects were age matched males. T helper -1 and T helper -2 types cytokines, Interleukin (IL)- 1 β, IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, IL-4, IL-10, Interferon (IFN)- γ, Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-a and TNF-β, were measured in serum. Psychopathological parameters were additionally determined with the five factorial edition of PANSS.

Results

In the FEP group, TNF-a and IL-4 were significantly higher compared with the HC group, (p=0.031 and p= 0.008, respectively). The FEP group also showed a trend for higher IL-2 and IFN-γ (p=0.081 and p= 0.065, respectively). Regarding the factors representing psychopathology only the negative factor did exhibit significant positive correlation with IL1 β(r=0.46,p=0.014).

Conclusion/Discussion

The evidence favors an activation of both Th 1 and Th 2 immune responses in FEP and stands in line with the recently suggested inflammatory pathophysiological hypothesis of psychosis.

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