Support is proposed for the applicant to receive advanced clinical research training in the area of neuroimmunology/virology of schizophrenia. The proposed program is for the first two years of the award period to be in a laboratory and basic science learning experience on the immune response to central nervous system (CNS) viral infection. The remaining three years will be in full-time clinical research application of the basic science experience. The applicant will participate in ongoing studies of the immunological response to Borna disease virus (BDV) infection in Lewis rats in the laboratory as an intensive basic science and laboratory training period. The proposed clinical research in years 3 - 5 will involve three projects: (1) clinical evaluation of schizophrenic patients who are seropositive for antibodies to BDV, (2) an examination of the extent to which immunological activation in the peripheral blood of schizophrenic patients is associated with the appearance of symptoms of early relapse, and (3) an in vitro comparison of the interferon responses to poly ICLC stimulation in schizophrenics and normal volunteers.
| Waltrip 2nd, R W; Buchanan, R W; Summerfelt, A et al. (1995) Borna disease virus and schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 56:33-44 |
| Rubin, S A; Waltrip 2nd, R W; Bautista, J R et al. (1993) Borna disease virus in mice: host-specific differences in disease expression. J Virol 67:548-52 |
| Carbone, K M; Park, S W; Rubin, S A et al. (1991) Borna disease: association with a maturation defect in the cellular immune response. J Virol 65:6154-64 |
| Waltrip 2nd, R W; Carrigan, D R; Carpenter Jr, W T (1990) Immunopathology and viral reactivation. A general theory of schizophrenia. J Nerv Ment Dis 178:729-38 |
