IL-4, TGF-β, NF-κB and MPO levels in Patients with Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia

Objective: Schizophrenia is a chronic psychotic disorder in which genetics and environmental factors such as infection and the corresponding immune response play a role in the etiopathogenesis. The aim of this study was to compare some immune factors such as nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B) activation, myeloperoxidase (MPO), the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-4 (IL-4), and regulatory cytokine transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) in schizophrenia patients and an age- and gender-matched control group. Method: Plasma levels of IL-4, TGF-beta, MPO, and NF-kappa B activation in 20 subjects with treatment-resistant schizophrenia and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were analyzed. Disease severity was evaluated using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Results: Plasma TGF-beta levels were found to be significantly lower and NF-kappa B to be significantly higher in antipsychotic treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients than in controls in this study. No significant differences were found between the patient and control groups for serum IL-4 and MPO levels. Conclusion: The low TGF-beta level in treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients in the symptom exacerbation period indicates that there is inadequate Th1/Th2 balance. Large-scale studies are required to investigate whether this is responsible for resistance in schizophrenia. The fact that the increase in NF-kappa B that we found in treatment resistant schizophrenia patients in this study has also been reported in the first attack in untreated schizophrenia patients in previous studies indicates that NF-kappa B plays a role in the disorder's physiopathology from the beginning.