Neural tissue hypersensitivity in psychiatric disorders with immunologic features
Janković, B.D.
Journal of Immunology 135(2 Suppl): 853s-857s
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-1767 PMID: 4008935 Document Number: 259931
The study population consisted of 1010 in patients and 81 control subjects. Patients suffering from schizophrenia, cerebral atrophy of unknown origin, dementia, depression, mental retardation, and ethanol-induced brain deterioration (alcoholics) were skin tested with 25 micrograms of S-100 protein and neuron-specific enolase isolated from fresh human brain. Evaluation of delayed skin hypersensitivity reactions at 24 hr revealed a high incidence of positive responses to S-100 protein: heavy alcoholism, 96.8%; depression, 94.1%; cerebral atrophy, 92.6%; dementia, 91.2%; schizophrenia, 87.7%; and mental retardation, 69.4%. The incidence of positive reactions to neuron-specific enolase in schizophrenics was 91.6%. Of 58 control subjects tested with S-100 protein, 6.8% were positive, whereas of 23 normal individuals tested with neuron-specific enolase, 6.4% developed mild skin reactions. These data suggest a close relationship between delayed hypersensitivity to neural tissue antigens and immunopsychiatric diseases, and they imply that cell-mediated immune mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of certain mental disorders.