Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that neurotrophic factors may play a critical role in the severity of clinical symptoms in schizophrenia. However, it remains unknown whether serum levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in schizophrenia are similar to those observed in the case of other neurotrophic factors. Therefore, we compared serum EGF concentrations in first-episode drug-naive (FEP) patients and medicated chronic schizophrenic patients with healthy controls in order to explore whether EGF levels are related to psychopathological symptoms. We measured the serum levels of EGF in 78 first-episode medication-naive schizophrenia patients, 76 medicated chronic schizophrenic patients, and 75 healthy controls using the sandwich ELISA method. Disease severity were measured using the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS). Serum EGF levels showed a significant decrease in schizophrenia patients in comparison to healthy subjects. Serum EGF levels in FEP patients are indistinguishable from chronic cases. EGF levels were related to PANSS general symptom subscales in both FEP never-medicated and medicated patients. It is interesting that serum EGF levels were negatively correlated with the PANSS cognitive subscales, with the exception of the patients with chronic schizophrenia. Our preliminary results indicated that EGF may play a role in this illness and that it could be used as a potential biomarker of disease severity. Moreover, EGF may be associated with cognitive subscales of PANSS in FEP patients. Future studies should investigate the relationship between EGF and cognitive function as measured using standardized neuropsychological assessments to identify potential biomarkers related with cognition.
Highlights
Epidermal growth factor (EGF), which was isolated from the submandibular gland of male mice by Stanley Cohen in 1962, is a very important neurotrophic factor, and is closely related to the proliferation, growth, differentiation, and regeneration of the central nervous system cell[1]
This is the first study to explore the correlations between serum epidermal growth factor (EGF) levels and clinical symptoms in medication-naive patients, chronic cases, and healthy controls
In our preliminary study, we found a close relationship between EGF and the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) general psychopathology and cognitive subscore in drug-naive patients with schizophrenia
Summary
Epidermal growth factor (EGF), which was isolated from the submandibular gland of male mice by Stanley Cohen in 1962, is a very important neurotrophic factor, and is closely related to the proliferation, growth, differentiation, and regeneration of the central nervous system cell[1]. Recent research demonstrated that EGF could reduce the damage to hippocampal CAI neurons after transient cerebral ischemia[19], which may be related to the inhibition of free radical-induced peroxisomal damage These studies indicate disruption of EGF in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. A survey conducted by Futamura et al.[18] revealed a significant decrease in serum EGF levels in the patient sample (i.e., 4 medication-naive and 45 medicated chronic schizophrenia patients) relative to healthy controls. These findings contrast with Hashimoto’s result that[21] no differences were observed for serum levels of EGF in drug naïve, first-episode (n = 15) and chronically medicated patients (n = 25) with schizophrenia versus general population controls These studies were performed using a small sample size, as described above. We hypothesized that those with more serious psychiatric symptoms would show lower serum EGF levels, and a significant relationship between EGF and PANSS cognitive subscales was observed among patient groups
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