Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.

<h4>Background</h4>Hypothetically, psychotic disorders could be caused or conditioned by immunological mechanisms. If so, one might expect there to be peripheral immune system phenotypes that are measurable in blood cells as biomarkers of psychotic states.<h4>Methods</h4>We u...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Emilio Fernandez-Egea, Petra E Vértes, Shaun M Flint, Lorinda Turner, Syed Mustafa, Alex Hatton, Kenneth G C Smith, Paul A Lyons, Edward T Bullmore
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155631&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849472637961502720
author Emilio Fernandez-Egea
Petra E Vértes
Shaun M Flint
Lorinda Turner
Syed Mustafa
Alex Hatton
Kenneth G C Smith
Paul A Lyons
Edward T Bullmore
author_facet Emilio Fernandez-Egea
Petra E Vértes
Shaun M Flint
Lorinda Turner
Syed Mustafa
Alex Hatton
Kenneth G C Smith
Paul A Lyons
Edward T Bullmore
author_sort Emilio Fernandez-Egea
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Hypothetically, psychotic disorders could be caused or conditioned by immunological mechanisms. If so, one might expect there to be peripheral immune system phenotypes that are measurable in blood cells as biomarkers of psychotic states.<h4>Methods</h4>We used multi-parameter flow cytometry of venous blood to quantify and determine the activation state of 73 immune cell subsets for 18 patients with chronic schizophrenia (17 treated with clozapine), and 18 healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, BMI and smoking. We used multivariate methods (partial least squares) to reduce dimensionality and define populations of differentially co-expressed cell counts in the cases compared to controls.<h4>Results</h4>Schizophrenia cases had increased relative numbers of NK cells, naïve B cells, CXCR5+ memory T cells and classical monocytes; and decreased numbers of dendritic cells (DC), HLA-DR+ regulatory T-cells (Tregs), and CD4+ memory T cells. Likewise, within the patient group, more severe negative and cognitive symptoms were associated with decreased relative numbers of dendritic cells, HLA-DR+ Tregs, and CD4+ memory T cells. Motivated by the importance of central nervous system dopamine signalling for psychosis, we measured dopamine receptor gene expression in separated CD4+ cells. Expression of the dopamine D3 (DRD3) receptor was significantly increased in clozapine-treated schizophrenia and covaried significantly with differentiated T cell classes in the CD4+ lineage.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Peripheral immune cell populations and dopaminergic signalling are disrupted in clozapine-treated schizophrenia. Immuno-phenotypes may provide peripherally accessible and mechanistically specific biomarkers of residual cognitive and negative symptoms in this treatment-resistant subgroup of patients.
format Article
id doaj-art-314733b1f6ca4ab1956a27bf4ee37dd4
institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2016-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-314733b1f6ca4ab1956a27bf4ee37dd42025-08-20T03:24:29ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01115e015563110.1371/journal.pone.0155631Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.Emilio Fernandez-EgeaPetra E VértesShaun M FlintLorinda TurnerSyed MustafaAlex HattonKenneth G C SmithPaul A LyonsEdward T Bullmore<h4>Background</h4>Hypothetically, psychotic disorders could be caused or conditioned by immunological mechanisms. If so, one might expect there to be peripheral immune system phenotypes that are measurable in blood cells as biomarkers of psychotic states.<h4>Methods</h4>We used multi-parameter flow cytometry of venous blood to quantify and determine the activation state of 73 immune cell subsets for 18 patients with chronic schizophrenia (17 treated with clozapine), and 18 healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, BMI and smoking. We used multivariate methods (partial least squares) to reduce dimensionality and define populations of differentially co-expressed cell counts in the cases compared to controls.<h4>Results</h4>Schizophrenia cases had increased relative numbers of NK cells, naïve B cells, CXCR5+ memory T cells and classical monocytes; and decreased numbers of dendritic cells (DC), HLA-DR+ regulatory T-cells (Tregs), and CD4+ memory T cells. Likewise, within the patient group, more severe negative and cognitive symptoms were associated with decreased relative numbers of dendritic cells, HLA-DR+ Tregs, and CD4+ memory T cells. Motivated by the importance of central nervous system dopamine signalling for psychosis, we measured dopamine receptor gene expression in separated CD4+ cells. Expression of the dopamine D3 (DRD3) receptor was significantly increased in clozapine-treated schizophrenia and covaried significantly with differentiated T cell classes in the CD4+ lineage.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Peripheral immune cell populations and dopaminergic signalling are disrupted in clozapine-treated schizophrenia. Immuno-phenotypes may provide peripherally accessible and mechanistically specific biomarkers of residual cognitive and negative symptoms in this treatment-resistant subgroup of patients.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155631&type=printable
spellingShingle Emilio Fernandez-Egea
Petra E Vértes
Shaun M Flint
Lorinda Turner
Syed Mustafa
Alex Hatton
Kenneth G C Smith
Paul A Lyons
Edward T Bullmore
Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.
PLoS ONE
title Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.
title_full Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.
title_fullStr Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.
title_full_unstemmed Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.
title_short Peripheral Immune Cell Populations Associated with Cognitive Deficits and Negative Symptoms of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia.
title_sort peripheral immune cell populations associated with cognitive deficits and negative symptoms of treatment resistant schizophrenia
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0155631&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT emiliofernandezegea peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT petraevertes peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT shaunmflint peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT lorindaturner peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT syedmustafa peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT alexhatton peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT kennethgcsmith peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT paulalyons peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia
AT edwardtbullmore peripheralimmunecellpopulationsassociatedwithcognitivedeficitsandnegativesymptomsoftreatmentresistantschizophrenia