Retroviral RNA identified in the cerebrospinal fluids and brains of individuals with schizophrenia

April 10, 2001
98 (8) 4634-4639
Commentary
Retroviruses and the pathogenesis of schizophrenia
David A. Lewis

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a serious brain disease of uncertain etiology. A role for retroviruses in the etiopathogenesis of some cases of schizophrenia has been postulated on the basis of clinical and epidemiological observations. We found sequences homologous to retroviral pol genes in the cell-free cerebrospinal fluids (CSFs) of 10 of 35 (29%) individuals with recent-onset schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Retroviral sequences also were identified in the CSFs of 1 of 20 individuals with chronic schizophrenia. However, retroviral sequences were not identified in any of the CSFs obtained from 22 individuals with noninflammatory neurological diseases or from 30 individuals without evidence of neurological or psychiatric diseases (χ2 = 19.25, P < 0.001). The nucleotide sequences identified in the CSFs of the individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were related to those of the human endogenous retroviral (HERV)-W family of endogenous retroviruses and to other retroviruses in the murine leukemia virus genus. Transcription of RNA homologous to members of the HERV-W family of retroviruses also was found to be up-regulated differentially in the frontal cortex regions of brains obtained postmortem from individuals with schizophrenia, as compared with corresponding tissue from individuals without psychiatric diseases. The transcriptional activation of certain retroviral elements within the central nervous system may be associated with the development of schizophrenia in at least some individuals. The further characterization of retroviral elements within the central nervous system of individuals with schizophrenia might lead to improved methods for the diagnosis and management of this disorder.

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Data Availability

Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. AF353706–AF353714).

Acknowledgments

We thank Mrs. B. Zwissler and Drs. S. Demisch, J. Pantel, K. Kronmüller, and D. Weimer for their assistance in the management of the patients. We thank Drs. J. Boeke, C. Ross, H. Perron, R. Löwer, R. Weiss, and D. Griffiths for their comments and suggestions relating to the manuscript. We thank Ms. Flora Leister, Shuojia Li, and Ann Cusic for their assistance with the project. We thank the Stanley Foundation, the medical faculty of the University of Heidelberg, and the State of Baden-Württemberg for their support of this project.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published in

Go to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Vol. 98 | No. 8
April 10, 2001
PubMed: 11296294

Classifications

Data Availability

Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. AF353706–AF353714).

Submission history

Received: September 1, 2000
Accepted: January 12, 2001
Published online: April 10, 2001
Published in issue: April 10, 2001

Acknowledgments

We thank Mrs. B. Zwissler and Drs. S. Demisch, J. Pantel, K. Kronmüller, and D. Weimer for their assistance in the management of the patients. We thank Drs. J. Boeke, C. Ross, H. Perron, R. Löwer, R. Weiss, and D. Griffiths for their comments and suggestions relating to the manuscript. We thank Ms. Flora Leister, Shuojia Li, and Ann Cusic for their assistance with the project. We thank the Stanley Foundation, the medical faculty of the University of Heidelberg, and the State of Baden-Württemberg for their support of this project.

Authors

Affiliations

Håkan Karlsson
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205; Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and Stanley Foundation Research Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814
Silke Bachmann
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205; Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and Stanley Foundation Research Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814
Johannes Schröder
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205; Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and Stanley Foundation Research Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814
Justin McArthur
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205; Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and Stanley Foundation Research Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814
E. Fuller Torrey
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205; Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and Stanley Foundation Research Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814
Robert H. Yolken
Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, and Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205; Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; and Stanley Foundation Research Program, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20814

Notes

To whom reprint requests should be addressed at: Division of Neurodegenerative Disease, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Nobels väg 12a, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected].
Communicated by D. Carleton Gajdusek, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

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    Retroviral RNA identified in the cerebrospinal fluids and brains of individuals with schizophrenia
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
    • Vol. 98
    • No. 8
    • pp. 4277-4815

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