First-episode psychosis patients display increased plasma IL-18 that correlates with cognitive dysfunction

Growing evidence implicate low-grade inflammation in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia as indicated by increased central and peripheral levels of cytokines. Patients with chronic schizophrenia show elevated levels of blood interleukin (IL)-18 (Tanaka et al., 2000; Xiu et al., 2012), a pleiotropic cytokine with a broad range of cellular effects related to adaptive and innate host defense mechanisms (Nakanishi et al., 2001). Here we analyze plasma and CSF levels of IL-18 in a well-characterized cohort of first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and healthy controls derived from the Karolinska Schizophrenia Project (see Orhan et al., 2017) with respect to cognitive performance.

Source: Schizophrenia Research - September 23, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Funda Orhan, Helena Fatouros-Bergman, Lilly Schwieler, Simon Cervenka, Lena Flyckt, Carl M. Sellgren, Karolinska Schizophrenia Project (KaSP) consortium, G öran Engberg, Sophie Erhardt Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research