Viral infections as a risk factor of psychiatric diseases

Research Project

Project/Area Number	10670906
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Psychiatric science
Research Institution	Nagasaki University
Principal Investigator	HYASHIDA Masaki Nagasaki Univ., Health Center, Asst. Prof., 保健管理センター, 講師 (70264223)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	OKAZAKI Yuji Mie Univ., Dep. of Medicine, Prof., 医学部, 教授 (40010318) YOSHITAKE Kazuyasu Nagasaki Univ., School of Med., Asst. Prof., 医学部, 講師 (40281208) TSUJITA Takahiro Nagasaki Univ., Univ. Hosp. Attached School of Med., Asst. Prof., 医学部・付属病院, 講師 (40304919)
Project Period (FY)	1998 – 1999
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1999)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000) Fiscal Year 1999: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000) Fiscal Year 1998: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Keywords	viral infection / monozygotic twins / schizophrenia / Borna disease virus / pestivirus / ボルナ病ウイルス / ペスティウイルス
Research Abstract	This study was designed to investigate the influence of the past viral infections (Borna disease virus or pestivirus infection) on the risk of suffering from schizophrenia. We tried to detect antibody against Borna disease virus (BDV) in the sera and BDV RNA or pestivirus RNA in the peripheral bloods from 31 schizophrenic patients (included 3 pairs of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia) and 55 healthy volunteers, who gave informed consent. BDV RNA and pestivirus RNA were detected from 3 and 1 of them, respectively. Neither of these viral RNAs was found in monozygotic twins. Anti-BDV antibody was detected from none of all participants. It is necessary to investigate past viral infection of further more monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia.