NEW DELHI New Delhi: A team of Singaporean researchers has found that changes in the immune system are linked to schizophrenia and possible resistance to treatment. Schizophrenia – a mental disorder that affects about 24 million people worldwide and 116 individuals in Singapore. Affects 1 in 100 people – the reasons behind it are still unknown. The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, joins a growing body of research that suggests immunity is behind the development of mental disorders. There may be an imbalance in the system.
Furthermore, not all patients with schizophrenia respond to standard antipsychotic medications. About one in three people with schizophrenia worldwide are treatment-resistant. This means they do not get relief from symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions despite treatment. Using changes in immune cell populations, Singapore's National Healthcareer Group (NHG) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) to predict potential treatment resistance, helping to introduce the most appropriate treatment as quickly as possible.
“Our goal was to identify immune cell changes that could potentially be used to predict treatment resistance, thereby leading to better clinical outcomes,” said lead author Dr. Li Yanhui, NHG Psychiatry Resident at NHG. This allows for earlier and more targeted interventions, such as starting clozapine treatment as early as possible.” Clozapine is the only psychiatric medication currently indicated to treat treatment-resistant schizophrenia. For the study, the team analyzed blood samples from 196 healthy participants and individuals with schizophrenia with varying degrees of treatment resistance.
They identified and compared 66 immune cell populations in the blood of 147 people with schizophrenia and 49 healthy individuals to explore immune cell populations associated with the disorder and treatment resistance. The results revealed some immune differences between healthy individuals and those with schizophrenia. Showed significant differences in cell populations.
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