Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii in Individuals with First-Episode Schizophrenia

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 32; no. 5; pp. 842 - 844
• Main Authors: Yolken, Robert H., Bachmann, Silke, Rouslanova, Inna, Lillehoj, Erik, Ford, Glen, Torrey, E. Fuller, Schroeder, Johannes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01-03-2001; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Animals; Antibodies; Antibodies, Protozoan - blood; Antibody Specificity; Antigens; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Western; Brief Reports; Central nervous system diseases; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Infections; Infectious diseases; Matched-Pair Analysis; Medical sciences; Mental illness; Middle Aged; Nervous system diseases; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Reactivity; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - complications; Schizophrenia - immunology; Toxoplasma - immunology; Toxoplasmosis - complications; Toxoplasmosis - immunology; Human; Protozoa; Apicomplexa; Protozoal disease; IgA; Antibody; Pathogenesis; Early phase; IgG; Schizophrenia; Exploration; Parasitosis; IgM; Infection; Psychosis; Toxoplasma gondii; Toxoplasmosis; Serum
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1086/319221

We employed enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and Western blotting techniques to measure the level of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii proteins in serum samples from 38 individuals undergoing their first episode of schizophrenia and from a group of matched control subjects. We found that the individuals with first-episode schizophrenia had significantly increased levels of IgG, IgM, and IgA class antibodies to Toxoplasma proteins, as compared with the control subjects.