Antinuclear antibodies profiling in Moroccan patients with schizophrenia: A single center study.

Objectives: The present study investigates the prevalence of antinuclear autoantibodies among Moroccan patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls and examines the potential associations between the presence of antinuclear autoantibodies and selected sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: A cross-sectional assessment was conducted between May 2020 and December 2022. The study involved a total of 157 patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted to the Ar-Razi Psychiatric Hospital of Ibn Sina University Hospital Center of Rabat, Morocco.

Clinical and inflammatory markers associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease in a cohort of individuals with chronic schizophrenia (FACE-SZ).

Aims: Recent studies on Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver (MAFLD) in schizophrenia show inconsistent findings, often based on small or specific samples. This study aims to assess the prevalence of MAFLD and its sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment-related risk factors in a large cohort of chronic patients with schizophrenia. A secondary goal is to identify an immuno-inflammatory signature associated with MAFLD.

Pro-inflammatory processes and metabolic syndrome: combined risk of resistance to treatment in patients with schizophrenia from the FACE-SZ cohort.

Schizophrenia (SZ) is characterized by a variable clinical expression and course peppered/hampered by severe complications. In particular, resistance to treatment (overall-TRS, treatment resistant SZ including UTRS, ultra-TRS) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are highly prevalent, and both demonstrated to be underpinned, at least partly, by pro-inflammatory processes. Given that such processes also underlie SZ per se, we hypothesized that potential inter-twinning between SZ- and MetS-related inflammatory processes may exert a combined effect on the risk of having overall-TRS/UTRS.

Prediction of relapse in a French cohort of outpatients with schizophrenia (FACE-SZ): Prediction, not association.

Background: Schizophrenia (SZ) commonly manifests through multiple relapses, each impeding the path to recovery and incurring personal and societal costs. Despite the identification of various risk factors associated to the risk of relapse, the development of accurate algorithms predictive of relapse has been limited, partly due to inadequate statistical methods. Additionally, despite the wealth of data showing strong associations between inflammation and schizophrenia, the two existing studies failed to demonstrate whether inflammatory parameters could predict relapse.

Immune-based Machine learning Prediction of Diagnosis and Illness State in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder.

Background: Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder frequently face significant delay in diagnosis, leading to being missed or misdiagnosed in early stages. Both disorders have also been associated with trait and state immune abnormalities. Recent machine learning-based studies have shown encouraging results using diagnostic biomarkers in predictive models, but few have focused on immune-based markers.

B Cell-activating factor (BAFF): A promising trans-nosographic biomarker of inflammation and autoimmunity in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Immune dysregulation is an important aspect of schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorders (BD) pathophysiology, including not only inflammatory but also autoimmune process reflective of abnormal humoral immune responses. Given that B cell-activating factor (BAFF) is an integral aspect of B lymphocyte regulation, the current study investigated BAFF in SZ and BD. 255 SZ patients, 407 BD patients and 185 healthy controls (HC) were investigated across three aspects of soluble BAFF (sBAFF) by (i) comparing sBAFF circulatory levels across SZ, BD and HC, (ii) determining potential correlations between the circulating levels of sBAFF and the genotype distribution of a functionally relevant polymorphism, namely the TNFSF13B 3'UTR insertion-deletion polymorphism (GCTGT>A), (iii) analyzing relationships between both sBAFF levels and 3'UTR insertion-deletion genotypes and disease risk, patients clinical characteristics and circulating levels of potent inflammatory molecules.

Low C4A copy numbers and higher HERV gene insertion contributes to increased risk of SLE, with absence of association with disease phenotype and disease activity.

Low copy numbers (CNs) of C4 genes are associated with systemic autoimmune disorders and affects autoantibody diversity and disease subgroups. The primary objective of this study was to characterize diversity of complement (C4) and C4-Human Endogenous Retrovirus (HERV) gene copy numbers in SLE. We also sought to assess the association of C4 and C4-HERV CNs with serum complement levels, autoantibodies, disease phenotypes and activity.

HLA peptide-binding pocket diversity modulates immunological complications after cord blood transplant in acute leukaemia.

Pocket motifs and their amino acid positions of HLA molecules are known to govern antigen presentation to effector cells. Our objective was to analyse their influence on the risk of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and relapse after umbilical cord blood transplant (UCBT). The transplant characteristics of 849 patients with acute leukaemia were obtained from the Eurocord/EBMT database.

HLA haplotype frequencies and diversity in patients with hemoglobinopathies.

The genetic diversity of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system was shaped by evolutionary constraints exerted by environmental factors. Analyzing HLA diversity may allow understanding of the underlying pathways and offer useful tools in transplant setting. The aim of this study was to investigate the HLA haplotype diversity in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD,  = 282) or β-thalassemia (β-Thal,  = 60), who received hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) reported to Eurocord and the Société Francophone de Greffe de Moelle et de Thérapie Cellulaire (SFGM-TC).

CSMD1 rs10503253 increases schizophrenia risk in a Tunisian population-group.

Objectives: Schizophrenia is a complex and chronic neuropsychiatric disorder. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified several at risk genetic variants, including two single nucleotide polymorphisms, namely the rs10503253 and the rs1270942 respectively located in the CSMD1 and the CFB loci. The present case-control study was designed to assess potential associations between the two variants and the risk of developing schizophrenia and disease severity.

Association between genetic variants of TLR2, TLR4, TLR9 and schizophrenia.

Background And Study Aim: Schizophrenia (SZ) is a multifactorial disorder involving complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors, where immune dysfunction plays a key etiopathogenic role. In order to explore the control of innate immune responses in SZ, we aimed to investigate the potential association between twelve TLR2, TLR4 and TLR9 variants (TLR2: rs4696480T>A, rs3804099T>C, rs3804100T>C; TLR4: rs1927914G>A, rs10759932T>C, rs4986790A>G, rs4986791T>C, rs11536889G>C, rs11536891T>C; TLR9: rs187084A>G, rs352139T>C and rs352140C>T) and SZ susceptibility in a Tunisian population.

Patients And Methods: This study included 150 patients and 201 healthy controls with no history of psychiatric illness.

Patients with psychosis spectrum disorders hospitalized during the COVID-19 pandemic unravel overlooked SARS-CoV-2 past infection clustering with HERV-W ENV expression and chronic inflammation.

Epidemiology has repeatedly associated certain infections with a risk of further developing psychiatric diseases. Such infections can activate retro-transposable genetic elements (HERV) known to trigger immune receptors and impair synaptic plasticity of neuroreceptors. Since the HERV-W ENV protein was recently shown to co-cluster with pro-inflammatory cytokines in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, we questioned the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with psychosis spectrum disorders (PSD).

A human leukocyte antigen imputation study uncovers possible genetic interplay between gut inflammatory processes and autism spectrum disorders.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurodevelopmental conditions that are for subsets of individuals, underpinned by dysregulated immune processes, including inflammation, autoimmunity, and dysbiosis. Consequently, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-hosted human leukocyte antigen (HLA) has been implicated in ASD risk, although seldom investigated. By utilizing a GWAS performed by the EU-AIMS consortium (LEAP cohort), we compared HLA and MHC genetic variants, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), and haplotypes in ASD individuals, versus typically developing controls.

Immune cell subsets in patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia with history of childhood maltreatment.

A history of Childhood Maltreatment (CM) has been repeatedly associated with an increased risk of developing bipolar disorders (BD) or schizophrenia (SZ). The impact of severe stress induced by CM has been proposed to be mediated by elevated inflammation reflected by dysregulated inflammatory processes. Little is known about the potential impact of CM on lymphocyte subpopulations or the role of pre-existing infections on CM physiological consequences.

Kynurenine pathway abnormalities are state-specific but not diagnosis-specific in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are associated with immunological dysfunctions that have been hypothesized to lead to clinical symptomatology in particular through kynurenine pathway abnormalities. The aim of this study was thus to investigate the impact of serum kynurenine metabolite levels on diagnosis, clinical state, symptom severity and clinical course in a large French transdiagnostic cohort of SCZ and BD patients. Four patient groups (total n = 507) were included in a cross-sectional observational study: 1) hospitalized acute bipolar patients (n = 205); 2) stable bipolar outpatients (n = 116); 3) hospitalized acute schizophrenia patients (n = 111) and 4) stable schizophrenia outpatients (n = 75), in addition to healthy controls (HC) (n = 185).

Comparative analysis of the variability of the human leukocyte antigen peptide-binding pockets in patients with acute leukaemia.

The association between acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) has rarely been studied in terms of diversity of peptide-binding pockets. The objective of this study was to analyse whether motifs of HLA class I and class II peptide-binding pockets and/or their amino acid positions were differentially associated with ALL and AML. We included 849 patients from the Eurocord/European Blood and Marrow Transplant registry.

Possible Effect of the use of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) represents a set of heterogeneous neurodevelopmental conditions defined by impaired social interactions and repetitive behaviors. The number of reported cases has increased over the past decades, and ASD is now a major public health burden. So far, only treatments to alleviate symptoms are available, with still unmet need for an effective disease treatment to reduce ASD core symptoms.

Non-Classical HLA Determinants of the Clinical Response after Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation for Systemic Sclerosis.

Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disease with high morbidity and mortality. Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (AHSCT) is the best therapeutic option for rapidly progressive SSc, allowing increased survival with regression of skin and lung fibrosis. The immune determinants of the clinical response after AHSCT have yet to be well characterized.

Immuno-metabolic profile of patients with psychotic disorders and metabolic syndrome. Results from the FACE-SZ cohort.

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a highly prevalent and harmful medical disorder often comorbid with psychosis where it can contribute to cardiovascular complications. As immune dysfunction is a key shared component of both MetS and schizophrenia (SZ), this study investigated the relationship between immune alterations and MetS in patients with SZ, whilst controlling the impact of confounding clinical characteristics including psychiatric symptoms and comorbidities, history of childhood maltreatment and psychotropic treatments.

Method: A total of 310 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for SZ or schizoaffective disorders (SZA), with or without MetS, were systematically assessed and included in the FondaMental Advanced Centers of Expertise for Schizophrenia (FACE-SZ) cohort.

Immune Signatures of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: A FondaMental Academic Centers of Expertise for Schizophrenia (FACE-SZ) Study.

Treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) affects around 30% of patients with schizophrenia (SZ) resulting in poor functioning, relapses, and reduced quality of life. Convergent findings show that inflammation could contribute to resistance. We thus search for immune signatures of patients with TRS/ultra TRS (UTRS) in a sample of community-dwelling outpatients with SZ.

HLA-E circulating and genetic determinants in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorders (BD) are severe mental illnesses that lack reliable biomarkers to guide diagnosis and management. As immune dysregulation is associated with these disorders, we utilized the immunoregulatory functions of the natural killer cell inhibitory HLA-E locus to investigate the relationships between HLA-E genetic and expression diversities with SZ and BD risk and severity. Four hundred and forty-four patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for SZ (N = 161) or BD (N = 283) were compared to 160 heathy controls (HC).

HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 genetic diversity modulates response to lithium in bipolar affective disorders.

Bipolar affective disorder (BD) is a severe psychiatric illness, for which lithium (Li) is the gold standard for acute and maintenance therapies. The therapeutic response to Li in BD is heterogeneous and reliable biomarkers allowing patients stratification are still needed. A GWAS performed by the International Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen) has recently identified genetic markers associated with treatment responses to Li in the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) region.