ArticleNPJ schizophrenia2015
The association between antibodies to neurotropic pathogens and schizophrenia: a case-control study.
Article in NPJ schizophrenia, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review and modelling ofEuro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Pooled it
- Herpes simplex virus: global infection prevalence and incidence estimates, 2016.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2020Pooled it
- The association between antibodies to neurotropic pathogens and bipolar disorder : A study in the Dutch Bipolar (DB) Cohort and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- CD163+ perivascular macrophages in schizophrenia: a research framework for testing macrophage-related mechanisms.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Unravelling the Viral Hypothesis of Schizophrenia: A Comprehensive Review of Mechanisms and Evidence.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Involvement of virus infections and antiviral agents in schizophrenia.Psychological medicine · 2025Review
- Therapeutic Implications of the Microbial Hypothesis of Mental Illness.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2023Review
- Serologic evaluation of cytomegalovirus (CMV), Toxoplasma gondii and Brucella in schizophrenia patients.Caspian journal of internal medicine · 2023Article
- Association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and psychiatric disorders: a cross-sectional study in China.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Antibody indices of infectious pathogens from serum and cerebrospinal fluid in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2022Article
- Diagnosis of Schizophrenia Based on the Data of Various Modalities: Biomarkers and Machine Learning Techniques (Review).Sovremennye tekhnologii v meditsine · 2022Review
- IsPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Infection withParasitology · 2020Article
- Schizophrenia is Associated With an Aberrant Immune Response to Epstein-Barr Virus.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2019Article
- Early Senescence and Leukocyte Telomere Shortening in SCHIZOPHRENIA: A Role for Cytomegalovirus Infection?Brain sciences · 2018Review
- Evidence of increased exposure to Toxoplasma gondii in individuals with recent onset psychosis but not with established schizophrenia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2017Article
- Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay to Detect Toxoplasmosis in Schizophrenia Patients.Iranian journal of parasitologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundExposure to neurotropic pathogens has been proposed as an environmental risk factor for schizophrenia and can be evaluated by measuring pathogen-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG). Seroprevalence of pathogen-specific IgG reflects prior exposure, whereas IgG levels are associated with reactivity or reinfection. Several studies have examined these parameters in schizophrenia. However, results still remain inconclusive, as several previous studies did not correct for important confounding factors.
aimsTo investigate whether schizophrenia is associated with prior exposure to neurotropic pathogens, or with their reactivation.
methodsWe examined the seroprevalence and titer of IgG antibodies against herpes simplex virus-1 and -2 (HSV-1/HSV-2), varicella zoster virus (VZV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Toxoplasma gondii (TG) in plasma of 368 adult patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder and 282 controls using ELISA.
resultsWe did not find evidence for an increased exposure to HSV-1, HSV-2, EBV, and TG in patients. There was a significantly higher seroprevalence of VZV (98.9% vs. 95.6%, P<0.05) and CMV (40.4% vs. 27.7%, P<0.001) in controls as compared with patients, which did not remain statistically significant after adjustment for various potential confounders. We did not find significant differences in antibody titers of seropositive patients and controls for any of the six pathogens.
conclusionsOur results do not support the hypothesis that increased exposure to neurotropic pathogens after birth is associated with schizophrenia.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.