The notion that schizophrenia has an important autoimmune component has been around for several decades, but has not previously been subjected to analysis by the most sensitive, modern techniques. We have developed a simple sensitive assay for detecting antibodies directed against human brain found in sera of schizophrenic patients and controls. We are now exploring the frequency of these antibodies in schizophrenics vs. controls and characterizing the molecular properties of the brain antigens involved and their distribution by visualization in rodent and human brain.
