Development of approaches to stratification of patients with schizophrenia based on cytokine levels using cluster analysis

Abstract

Introduction Alterations in a variety of immune parameters, including abnormal cytokine levels, are known to be found in schizophrenia. These changes can be useful in identifying patients with the most severe immune abnormalities. Objectives To develop approaches to stratification of schizophrenia patients based on cytokine levels using cluster analysis. Methods We recruited 53 patients (25 women/28 men) with a verified diagnosis of simple or paranoid schizophrenia and 37 healthy individuals (19 women/18 men) in our study. Serum levels of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, TNFα, INFα, BAFF, GM-CSF, NGFβ, NRG1, and GDNF were determined using a MAGPIX multiplex analyzer (Luminex, USA). Statistical analysis was performed in Statistica 10. Results Principal component analysis and partial least-squares discriminant analysis showed that the combined multi-cytokine profiles of the studied groups differ. The results of the k-means cluster analysis are presented in Table 1 The most reliable results are obtained by a combination of 4 variable: IL-1β, IL- 4, BAFF and GDNF. Table 1 Percent of individuals classified in different clusters depending of number of parameters using for classification. Number of variables for classification Healthy individuals Schizophrenia patients Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 1 Cluster 2 10 variables 5,4 96,4 26,4 73,6 4 variables 0 100 11,1 88,9 3 variables 2,7 97,3 29,6 70,4 2 variables 8,1 91,9 20,4 79,6 Conclusions A subgroup (сluster 1) of schizophrenic patients with severe immune abnormalities was identified using data on the levels of IL-1β, IL-4, BAFF and GDNF. Anti-inflammatory therapy is recommended for this subgroup of patients. Support by Grant of RSF № 21-75-00102. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• schizophrenia
• cytokines