Borna disease virus and Schizophrenia - a study of seroprevalence and clinical variables

Abstract

Viral causes have been implicated as one of the environmental aetiological factors of schizophrenia. Borna disease virus (BDV) is a negative-stranded, enveloped, noncytolytic RNA virus characterized by neurotropism and a wide host range. The clinical, neuroanatomical and neurochemical changes observed in experimentally infected animals suggests that BDV may be related to human psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia. Evidence of human BDV infection has also emerged recently. We examined the prevalence of BDV-specific antibodies in 432 Hong Kong Chinese patients with schizophrenia using Western blot technique as well as the relationship between seropositivity and clinical variables by comparing seropositve and seronegative patients. The serum samples of 480 healthy Hong Kong Chinese blood donors matched for age were used as controls. We found a significantly higher BDV seroprevalence rate in patients with schizophrenia Ž22.7%. than healthy blood donors Ž11.5%.. The odds ratio for BDV seropositivity was 2.27 Ž95% confidence intervals1.02–2.28.. No association between seropositivity and patient status, age, age of onset, duration of illness, duration of untreated psychosis, treatment response, subtype of illness, dosages of antipsychotic medication, the presence of family history of psychiatric disorder and scores on the PANSS was found. Our results suggest that BDV may be important in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia in Hong Kong and the significantly higher seropositivity rate amongpatients with schizophrenia is consistent with previous studies. Further research is indicated to clearly elucidate the characteristics of patients for whom BDV may be aetiologically relevant.