Summary
There is a confusing history of immune findings associated with schizophrenia. At least some of these discrepant results may be artifacts caused by heterogeneity. In an attempt to decrease heterogeneity, we studied three groups of monozygotic twins who were either discordant for schizophrenia, concordant and ill, or concordant and well. This comparison minimizes environmental and genetic variance, and heightens differences that are actually due to the disorder. Overall, schizophrenic subjects had higher levels of serum soluble interleukin-2 receptors (SIL-2Rs) than unaffected individuals (480.8, SD 238.6 U/ml vs 380.9, SD 170.6 U/ml;F=5.256,df=1.61,P=0.02). When data from discordant and concordant twin groups were analysed separately, both the discordant ill twins (P=0.06) and concordant ill twin pairs (P=0.08) showed trends towards higher serum SIL-2R levels than their respective control groups. These data contribute to the growing body of evidence that immune activation is associated with some forms of schizophrenia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bracha HS, Torrey EF, Biegelow LB, Lohr JB, Linington BB (1991) Subtle signs of prenatal maldevelopment of the hand ectoderm in schizophrenia: a preliminary monozygotic twin study. Biol Psychiatry 30:719–725
Bruce LC, Peebles AMS (1903) Clinical and experimental observations on catatonia. J Ment Sci 49:614–628
Bruce LC, Peebles AMS (1904) Quantitative and qualitative leukocyte counts in the various forms of mental disease. J Ment Sci 50:409–412
Casanova MF, Sanders RD, Goldberg TE, Biegelow LB, Christison G, Torrey E, Weinberger DR (1990) Morphometry of the corpus callosum in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia: a magnetic resonance imaging study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 53:416–421
Dameschek W (1930) The white blood cells in dementia praecox and dementia paralytica. Arch Neurol Psychiatry 24:855
Dameschek W (1931) White blood cells in general paresis. Massachusetts Department of Mental Disease Bulletin
DeLisi L (1986) Neuroimmunology: clinical studies of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. In: Nasrallah HA, Weinberger DR (eds) The Handbook of Schizophrenia, vol 1: The Neurology of Schizoprenia. Elsevier, New York, pp 377–396
Ganguli R, Rabin BS (1989a) Increased serum interleukin 2 receptor concentration in schizophrenic and brain-damaged subjects [letter]. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:292
Ganguli R, Rabin BS, Belle SH (1989b) Decreased interleukin-2 production in schizophrenic patients. Biol Psychiatry 26:427–430
Goldberg TE, Ragland D, Torrey EF, Gold JM, Bigelow LB, Weinberger DR (1990) Neuropsychological assessment of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 47:1066–1072
Henneberg A, Riedl B, Dumke H-O, Kornhuber HH (1990) T-Lymphocyte subpopulations in schizophrenic patients. Eur Arch Pshchiatr Neurol Sci 239:283–284
Kurman CC, Rubin LA, Nelson DL (1992) Soluble products of immune activation: soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R, Tac Protein). In: Rose NR, de Macario ED, Fahey JL, Friedman H, Penn GM (eds) Manual of clinical laboratory immunology. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C., pp 256–260
Lehman-Facius H (1937) Über die Liquordiagnose der Schizophrenien. Klin Wochenschr 16:1646–1648
Lehman-Facius H (1939) Serologisch-analytische Versuche mit Liquoren und Seren von Schizophrenien. Allg Z Psychiatr 110: 232–243
Lepine J, Popoff VST (1908) Recherches sur les variations scrologiques du sang chez les alienes. Encephale 2:574
Lyubovskaya P, Rokhlenko S (1957) The condition of the bone marrow in schizophrenia. Vrach Delo 12:213–217
Manoussakis MN, Papadopoulos GK, Drosos AA, Moutsopoulos HM (1989) Soluble interleukin 2 receptor molecules in the serum of patients with autoimmune diseases. Clin Immunol Immunopathol 50:321–332
Masserini C, Vita A, Basile R, Morselli R, Boato P, Peruzzi C Pugnetti L, Cazzullo CL (1990) Lymphocyte subsets in schizophrenic disorders Relationship with clinical, neuromorphological and treatment variables. Schizophr Res 3:269–275
McAllister CG, Rapaport MH, Pickar D, Paul SM (1989a) Effects of short-term administration of antipsychotic drugs on lymphocyte subsets in schizophrenic patients [letter]. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:497–956
McAllister CG, Rapaport MH, Pickar D, Prodnuchny TA, Christison G, Alphs LD, Paul SM (1989b) Increased numbers of CD5+ B lymphocytes in schizophrenic patients. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:890–894
Rapaport MH, McAllister CG, Pickar D, Nelson DL, Paul SM (1989) Elevated levels of soluble interleukin 2 receptors in schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 46:291–292
Rapaport MH, Doran AR, Nelson DL, McAllister CG, Magliozzi JR, Paul SM (1991a) Haloperidol and soluble interleukin-2 receptors. Biol Psychiatry 30:1063–1065
Rapaport MH, McAllister CG (1991b) Neuroimmunologic factors in schizophrenia. In: Gorman JM, Kertzner RM (eds) Psychoimmunology update. American Psychiatric Press, Washington, D.C., pp 31–47
Rubin LA, Nelson DL (1990) The soluble interleukin-2 receptor: biology, function and clinical. Ann Intern Med 113:619–627
Spitzer RL, Williams JB, Gibbon M, First MB (1988) Instruction manual for the structured clinical interview for DSM III-R (SCID). New York, Biometrics Research Division, New York State Psychiatric Institute
Spivak B, Marguerite R, Brandon J, Molcho A, Ohring R, Tyano S, Weizman MD (1991) Cold agglutinin autoantibodies in psychiatric patients: their relation to diagnosis and pharmacological treatment. Am J Psychiatry 148:244–247
Suddath RL, Christison GW, Torrey EF, Casanova MF, Weinberger D (1990) Anatomical abnormalities in the brains of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia. N Engl J Med 322: 789–794
Villemain F, Chatenoud L, Guillibert E, Pelicier Y, Bach JF (1987) Decreased production of interleukin-2 in schizophrenia. Ann NY Acad Sci 496:669–675
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The Metabolism Branch of the National Cancer Institute
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rapaport, M.H., Torrey, E.F., McAllister, C.G. et al. Increased serum soluble interleukin-2 receptors in schizophrenic monozygotic twins. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Nuerosci 243, 7–10 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02191517
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02191517