A pilot study of type-1 diabetes antibodies in schizophrenia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A pilot study of type-1 diabetes associated antibodies in plasma from patients with schizophrenia and control subjects
IRAS ID
123525
Contact name
Jun Wei
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of the Highlands & Islands
Research summary
Recent work indicated that maternal antibodies to dietary antigens and infectious agents might be a risk factor for schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses in offspring. This observation raises the possibility that some antibodies for both foreign and self proteins in pregnant women may increase risk of a mental disorder like schizophremia in their offspring. It has been reported that there is a significant excess of type-1 diabetes (T1D) in first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, particularly in mothers, suggesting that maternal T1D may be a risk factor for schizophrenia. Because some T1D-related self-protein antigens are largely produced in the foetal brain, blood antibodies to these self-proteins in pregnant women may be involved in developing a mental disorder in their offspring. In addition, a care report has recently shown elevation of a T1D-associated antibody in a young patient with schizophrenia.
The proposed study is thus undertaken to test the following hypotheses: (1) whether T1D-associated antibodies are a risk factor for schizophrenia, (2) whether people who carry such a gene form have a higher level of T1D-associated antibodies in blood than those who do not carry such a gene form, (3) whether healthy women of reproductive years have a higher level of T1D-associated antibodies than healthy men matched in age and T1D gene forms, and (4) whether T1D-associated antibodies are associated with genetic variation in the chromosomal region that genetically controls immune function in humans. Outcomes from the proposed study will provide useful information to develop a strategy of screening pregnant women who possibly carry T1D-associated antibodies that may affect the brain development of their offspring.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
13/NS/0017
Date of REC Opinion
12 Jun 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion