Abstract

In human, certain serological and molecular trials estimated an association between psychiatric diseases, particularly schizophrenia, mood disorders and borna disease virus (BDV). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether BDV has association with etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. A total of 207 patients who were diagnosed with residual schizophrenia and 51 patient control grop with 134 healthy control group were included in the study. RNA of borna disease virus (BDV p24 and p40) in the peripheral blood was investigated by using real-time RT-PCR. A highly significant difference was detected between patient and healthy control group cases in terms of BDV IgG seropositivity (p<0.001). The OD value of IgG positivity was established as significantly high in the patient group compared to patient control group in the age groups of 35-50 and 51-65 (p<0.001). No significant differences were detected in other groups. The OD value of IgG positivity was established as significantly high in the patient group compared to healthy control group in the age groups of 35-50 and 51-65 (p<0.001). BDV-RNA (p24 and p40) was not detected in those 102 cases having BDV-IgG seropositivity.

Key words: Borna disease virus, schizophrenia, ELISA.