Back to Journals » Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment » Volume 14

Activation of IL-8 and its participation in cancer in schizophrenia patients: new evidence for the autoimmune hypothesis of schizophrenia
Authors Xu LZ, Qi X, Zhu C, Wan LH
Received 22 September 2018
Accepted for publication 30 November 2018
Published 13 December 2018 Volume 2018:14 Pages 3393—3403
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S188210
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single anonymous peer review
Peer reviewer comments 2
Editor who approved publication: Dr Yuping Ning
Lvzi Xu,1 Xiao Qi,2 Chi Zhu,3 Lihua Wan1
1Department of Forensic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China; 2Department of Rehabilitation, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China; 3Department of Neurology, Center for Clinical Neuroscience, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
Abstract: To investigate the autoimmune mechanisms of schizophrenia, we explored the relationship between schizophrenia and cancer using gene expression data of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from GSE27383 datasets. Gene screening and enrichment analysis using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis were applied to identify possible connections between schizophrenia and cancer. Real-time PCR (quantitative PCR), Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were performed on the brain tissue from both schizophrenia patients and normal controls. The genes for IL-8, as well as PTGS2, TPR, JUN, CXCL1, CXCL3, CXCL5 and PARD3 were highly expressed in schizophrenia patients. Cancer and chemokine signaling pathways were enriched in the schizophrenic group, related to the high expression of IL-8. Increased expression of IL-8 was further confirmed by quantitative PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry results. Our results suggest that IL-8 may participate specifically in the pathophysiological changes that occur in schizophrenia. Additionally, our findings provide novel evidence supporting the autoimmune hypothesis of schizophrenia.
Keywords: bioinformatics, multiple primary cancers, autoimmune disease, cancer pathway, GSEA
This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.
By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.