This study will examine the relation of prenatal influenza and pro-inflammatory cytokines to the risk of schizophrenia and other schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), using serologic methods to document the exposures of interest. The proposed study builds upon a unique investigation, the Prenatal Determinants of Schizophrenia (PDS) Study, a follow-up of SSD in a large birth cohort. This study has many strengths, including a large and representative sample of births, and a rich array of prospectively collected data on developmental antecedents. In the present proposal, we seek to capitalize on an additional and unique resource of this birth cohort--archived maternal serum specimens that were drawn during the pregnancies of cohort members. These samples have been stored frozen since the time that they were acquired, and are available for analysis. This resource will permit us to examine for the first time serologically documented prenatal infection, a plausible risk factor for SSD. Specifically, we shall: 1) Examine the relation between serologically documented prenatal influenza infection during mid-gestation and risk of SSD. We hypothesize that there will be a higher rate of seroconversion to influenza in prenatal sera of SSD cases as compared to matched controls. For this purpose, we shall document seroconversion for influenza antibody in prenatal sera of 100 SSD cases and 400 matched controls from the PDS birth cohort, compare the proportions with seroconversion for influenza between the two groups, and compute odds ratios with confidence intervals using methods appropriate for matched data; 2) Examine the relation between serologically documented maternal pro-inflammatory cytokines in the etiology of SSD. This will represent an important first step toward investigating other prenatal infections in the etiology of SSD. We hypothesize that there will be increased levels of four specific cytokines-- interleukin 1-beta (IL-1-beta), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- alpha)--during mid-gestation among mothers of SSD, as compared to control, offspring. For this purpose, we shall quantify levels of these cytokines in 100 SSD cases and their respective matched controls, and compare these levels between the groups.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH063264-02
Application #
6528937
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDCN-6 (01))
Program Officer
Meinecke, Douglas L
Project Start
2001-09-25
Project End
2005-08-31
Budget Start
2002-09-01
Budget End
2005-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$161,214
Indirect Cost
Name
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
167204994
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10032
Ellman, Lauren M; Vinogradov, Sophia; Kremen, William S et al. (2012) Low maternal hemoglobin during pregnancy and diminished neuromotor and neurocognitive performance in offspring with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 138:81-7
Ellman, Lauren M; Deicken, Raymond F; Vinogradov, Sophia et al. (2010) Structural brain alterations in schizophrenia following fetal exposure to the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-8. Schizophr Res 121:46-54
Waddington, John L; Brown, Alan S; Lane, Abbie et al. (2008) Congenital anomalies and early functional impairments in a prospective birth cohort: risk of schizophrenia-spectrum disorder in adulthood. Br J Psychiatry 192:264-7
Brown, Alan S; Susser, Ezra S (2008) Prenatal nutritional deficiency and risk of adult schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 34:1054-63
Brown, Alan S; Bottiglieri, Teodoro; Schaefer, Catherine A et al. (2007) Elevated prenatal homocysteine levels as a risk factor for schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64:31-9
Penner, Justin D; Brown, Alan S (2007) Prenatal infectious and nutritional factors and risk of adult schizophrenia. Expert Rev Neurother 7:797-805
Perrin, Mary C; Brown, Alan S; Malaspina, Dolores (2007) Aberrant epigenetic regulation could explain the relationship of paternal age to schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 33:1270-3
Perrin, Megan A; Chen, Henian; Sandberg, David E et al. (2007) Growth trajectory during early life and risk of adult schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry 191:512-20
Brown, Alan S; Schaefer, Catherine A; Quesenberry Jr, Charles P et al. (2006) No evidence of relation between maternal exposure to herpes simplex virus type 2 and risk of schizophrenia? Am J Psychiatry 163:2178-80
Babulas, Vicki; Factor-Litvak, Pam; Goetz, Raymond et al. (2006) Prenatal exposure to maternal genital and reproductive infections and adult schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 163:927-9

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