The relationship between psychopathology and cognitive functions with cytokines in clinically stable patients with schizophrenia

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVESInflammation and the cytokine hypotheses have been proposed for schizophrenia. Several proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines have been studied in drug-naive, first-episode, and/or chronic schizophrenia patients. However, there were limited data on clinical stable outpatients reflecting daily routine. The aim of this study was to compare the serum levels of cytokines, including transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), between clinically stable patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls, as well as to examine the relationship between these inflammation parameters and clinical variables (positive and negative symptom severity and cognitive functions).METHODSThirty clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls with similar sex and age were included in this study. Serum IL-6, TGF-β, and TNF-α levels were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoenzyme microplate me...