Research paperElevation of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) levels in schizophrenia patients
Introduction
Psychiatric diseases are a group of mental disorders that affect millions of people worldwide (Cardno et al., 1999). Generally, these diseases are closely related to decreases in quality of life and life expectancy (Whiteford et al., 2010).
To date, psychiatric diseases have been considered to be frequently accompanied by immune dysregulation and activation of the inflammatory response system (Licinio, 1999, Connor and L, 1998, Penninx et al., 2003). In certain cases, immune dysfunction manifested by elevation of proinflammatory biomarkers and suppression of anti-inflammatory biomarkers is reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders (Goldsmith et al., 2016, Gibney and D, 2013, Barbosa et al., 2014). Specifically, activation of the inflammatory response system has been demonstrated to cause excessive production of inflammatory cytokines that affect the periphery and brain function. A meta-analysis has reported significantly higher concentrations of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 in depressed subjects than in control subjects (Yekta Dowlati et al., 2010). Moreover, an aberrant cytokine network in the blood has been reported in people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder (Dowlati et al., 2010, Miller et al., 2011, Miller et al., 2011, Potvin et al., 2008).
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), classically known as a marker of renal damage (Di Grande et al., 2009, Parikh and D, 2008), has been shown to reflect inflammatory damage in a wide variety of tissues such as the brain and heart (Yndestad et al., 2009, Lee et al., 2007). NGAL is regarded as an independent predictor of mortality in heart failure patients (van Deursen et al., 2014). Gouweleeuw et al. reported that NGAL could serve as a biological constituent linking depression and cardiovascular disease. Meanwhile, Naudé et al. reported that elevation of NGAL was a novel inflammatory marker associated with late-life depression (Naudé et al., 2013, Gouweleeuw et al., 2015). To the best of our knowledge, few studies have focused on the roles of NGAL in psychiatric diseases. This gap in the literature led us to investigate whether NGAL can serve as a valuable inflammation marker in psychiatric diseases.
In this study, we aimed to explore the characteristics of immunoinflammatory markers in psychiatric diseases. Specifically, we analysed the levels of NGAL and other classical immunoinflammatory markers including C-reactive protein (CRP), Th1/Th2 cytokines (i.e., IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and IFN-γ), total leukocyte count (TLC), and neutrophilic granulocyte percentage (NEU%) in subjects with psychiatric diseases. Our study contributes to the understanding of immune function in patients with psychiatric diseases.
Section snippets
Subjects
Seventy-three patients with psychiatric diseases who were admitted to our hospital between November 2015 and September 2016 were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided into the following groups according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10), and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV), codes: a schizophrenia group [ICD-10: F20, DSM-IV: 295], an anxiety disorder group [ICD-10: F41, DSM-IV: 300.(2)], a unipolar
CRP level in the psychiatric disease groups and control group
Compared with the control group, each psychiatric disease group showed a significant increase in CRP level (df = 4, F = 12.89): the schizophrenia group (2.18 ± 0.81 vs. 0.37 ± 0.22), the bipolar disorder group (1.41 ± 0.50 vs. 0.37 ± 0.22), the anxiety disorder group (1.48 ± 0.88 vs. 0.37 ± 0.22), and the depression group (1.36 ± 0.91 vs. 0.37 ± 0.22, P < 0.01, Fig. 1). Meanwhile, a significant decrease was noticed in CRP in the bipolar disorder group (1.41 ± 0.50 vs. 2.18 ± 0.81) and the
Discussions
Psychiatric diseases are clinically and aetiologically heterogeneous in nature (Suvisaari, 2013). In the past few decades, extensive studies have been carried out to investigate the roles of inflammation in psychopathology (Potvin et al., 2008, Potvin et al., 2008, Goldstein et al., 2009). Substantial evidence indicates that the immune system plays an important role in the pathogenesis of depression and schizophrenia, which is consistent with the well-known clinical and aetiological (including
Author disclosure
We declare that we do not have anything to disclose regarding funding or conflict of interest with respect to this manuscript.
Role of the funding source
The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81671949).
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2022, Schizophrenia ResearchCitation Excerpt :A total of 50 studies were included in the meta-analysis (Fig. 1). 24 of them were stable patients (Cathomas et al., 2021; Akanji et al., 2009; Atere et al., 2018; Fernandes et al., 2020; Garcia-Alvarez et al., 2018; Jacomb et al., 2018; Kuo et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2019; Lin et al., 2013; Mizuno et al., 2016; Mohite et al., 2017; Nugent et al., 2015; Pan et al., 2020; Prasad et al., 2015; Quidé et al., 2019; Reponen et al., 2020; Squassina et al., 2020; Stojanovic et al., 2014; Tanaka et al., 2017; Vetter et al., 2015; Vuksan-Cusa et al., 2013; Ishida et al., 2022; Michalczyk et al., 2022; Osimo et al., 2021) (see Table 1) while 22 of them were in an acute phase (Ali et al., 2017; Bolu et al., 2019; Challa et al., 2021; De Picker et al., 2019; Ding et al., 2018; Dzikowski et al., 2020; Erzin et al., 2019; Goff et al., 2018; Gurung et al., 2018; Kalelioglu et al., 2017; Pan et al., 2016; Pesce et al., 2014; Piotrowski et al., 2019; Steiner et al., 2020; Wei et al., 2018; Wurfel et al., 2017; Yuan et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2017; Zhou et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2019; Li et al., 2021; Ma et al., 2021) (see Table 2). 9 studies were included in our longitudinal analysis of CRP variations between acute and stable phase of the disease (Steiner et al., 2020; De Picker et al., 2019; Pan et al., 2016; Goff et al., 2018; Ma et al., 2021; Kachouchi et al., 2020; Jena et al., 2020; Stefanović et al., 2015; Sobis et al., 2015).
Lipocalin 2 as a link between ageing, risk factor conditions and age-related brain diseases
2021, Ageing Research ReviewsCitation Excerpt :Similarly, increased Lcn2 levels upon LPS-injection (a model of sepsis) in mice were associated with cognitive impairment (Jang et al., 2013b). It is worth mentioning two additional risk conditions: firstly, individuals with schizophrenia were found to have a higher risk to develop dementia (Ribe et al., 2015), and to have higher plasma Lcn2 levels as compared to controls (Wei et al., 2018). Secondly, chronic use of benzodiazepines has been related to an increased risk to develop AD (Billioti de Gage et al., 2014; Tapiainen et al., 2018).
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