ArticleBMC psychiatry2023
Sex differences in the association of treatment-resistant schizophrenia and serum interleukin-6 levels.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Plasma IL-17A, IFN-γ, and MIP-3α profiles are associated with clinical stage transition in first-episode psychosis.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Accelerated aging in schizophrenia: integrating epigenetic clocks, telomere dynamics, senescence-associated secretory phenotype, and oxidative stress.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Sex-stratified associations between depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment in treatment-resistant vs. non-resistant schizophrenia.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Article
- Schizophrenia: from mechanism to therapy.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Causal links among gut microbiota, immune-inflammatory and compensatory immune-regulatory systems, and schizophrenia.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Sex Differences in Schizophrenia Across the Reproductive Lifespan.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
- Alterations in serum IL-10 and IL-19 levels in drug-naïve first-episode adolescent-onset schizophrenia and their associations with clinical symptoms.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Sex-specific associations between Neutrophil-Percentage-to-Albumin Ratio(NPAR) and Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) with positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Linking Metabolic Disorders and Immune System Phenomena in Schizophrenia: The Role of Adipose Tissue and Inflammation.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Molecular Underpinning of Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: A Putative Different Neurobiology from Treatment-Responsive Schizophrenia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Interleukin-5, Eosinophil, and Immunoglobulin A Levels in Schizophrenia Patients.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Article
- Changes in olfactory function and serum interleukin-6 levels in the acute phase of bipolar I disorder: a longitudinal study.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Alterations of the IKZF1-IKZF2 tandem in immune cells of schizophrenia patients regulate associated phenotypes.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2024Article
- Sex differences in the association between metabolic disorder and inflammatory cytokines in Han Chinese patients with chronic schizophrenia.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLow-grade inflammation and altered inflammatory markers have been observed in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is one of the pro-inflammatory cytokines linked with TRS and receives increasing attention. Previous studies showed that patients with TRS might have higher IL-6 levels compared with healthy individuals and treatment-responsive patients. Besides, emerging evidence has suggested that there are sex differences in the associations between IL-6 levels and various illnesses, including chronic hepatitis C, metabolic syndrome, etc.; however, there is limited study on TRS. In this present study, we aimed to compare the serum IL-6 levels of TRS and partially responsive schizophrenia (PRS) and explore potential sex differences in the association of TRS and IL-6 levels.
methodsThe study population consisted of a total of 90 patients with schizophrenia: 64 TRS patients (45.3% males and 54.7% females) and 26 PRS patients (46.2% males and 53.8% females). We measured serum IL-6 levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and analyzed them separately by gender, controlling for confounders (age, education, medication, body mass index, and PANSS scores) rigorously.
resultThe results showed that patients with TRS had higher serum IL-6 levels than patients with PRS (p = 0.002). In females, IL-6 levels increased significantly in the TRS group compared with the PRS group (p = 0.005). And a positive correlation tendency was observed between IL-6 levels and PANSS general sub-scores (r = 0.31, p = 0.039), although this correlation was not significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Whereas, there were no differences in IL-6 levels between the TRS and PRS (p = 0.124) in males.
conclusionOur findings provided evidence supporting the hypothesis that the inflammatory response system (IRS) may play a role in the pathogenesis of TRS in a sex-dependent manner. In addition, sex differences in the immune dysfunction of individuals with schizophrenia cannot be neglected, and inflammation in male and female TRS should be discussed separately.
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