The Effect of Antipsychotic Therapy on the Dynamics of the Chemokines CXC Subfamily Indices in Blood of First Episode Schizophrenia Patients

Background: neuroinflammation as a universal mechanism of development of endogenous mental disorders, including schizophrenia, is given close attention. Chemokines claim to be markers of the neuroinflammation  process within the framework of schizophrenia. Antipsychotics can affect the content of certain cytokines, but similar studies on chemokines are rare. The aim was to investigate the indicators of chemokines of the CXC subfamily in blood of patients with a first episode of schizophrenia, including indices dynamics during therapy with haloperidol and risperidone. Patients, control groups and methods: 80 patients aged 18 to 35 years with the diagnosis F20.09 («Paranoid schizophrenia, observation period less than a year»), in whom the indices of chemokines of the CXC subfamily: CXCL1 (GRO-α), CXCL5 (ENA-78), CXCL8 (IL-8), CXCL9 (MIG), CXCL10 (IP-10), CXCL11 (I-TAC) were studied in blood plasma by flow fluorimetry before and after 8 weeks of therapy with haloperidol (n = 40) or risperidone (n = 40). The control group was 35 healthy volunteers. Results: patients with schizophrenia onset had elevated levels of IL-8 and GRO-α and decreased levels of ENA-78, MIG, and I-TAC before therapy. When haloperidol was administered for 8 weeks, a significant increase in IL-8 and I-TAC was recorded. This was not observed with risperidone therapy. An increase in plasma concentrations of GRO-α, ENA-78, a tendency to a continued decrease in MIG, as well as a high rate of IL-8 are registered in first episode schizophrenia patients after 8 weeks of treatment regardless of the antipsychotic taken. Conclusion: abnormalities in the plasma content of a number of chemokines of the CXC subfamily are initially present in patients with a first episode of schizophrenia, indicating their possible involvement in the mechanisms of this disorder. Antipsychotics have a multidirectional effect on the dynamics of chemokine values in blood, which requires further research.

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