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. 2008 May;33(3):244-7.

Short telomeres in patients with chronic schizophrenia who show a poor response to treatment

Wu-Yang Yu  1 , Hsueh-Wen Chang, Ching-Hua Lin, Chung-Lung Cho
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Short telomeres in patients with chronic schizophrenia who show a poor response to treatment

Wu-Yang Yu et al. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2008 May.
Free PMC article

Erratum in

  • J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2008 Jul;33(4):343

Abstract
in English, French

Objective: Telomere shortening has been observed in many human diseases, including atherosclerosis, cancer, aging syndromes, Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia. The present study aimed to investigate the mean telomere lengths of patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: We analyzed the lengths of telomeric DNA, comparing 2 groups of patients with schizophrenia (34 good responders and 34 poor responders). A control group of 76 healthy volunteers was also included. Blood samples were obtained, and telomere length was measured by Southern blot analysis on the mean length of terminal restriction fragment (TRF).

Results: Compared with the control group, a significant amount of telomere shortening was found in peripheral blood leukocytes from patients with schizophrenia who experienced poor response to antipsychotics (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Shortened telomere length in chronic schizophrenia may be a trait marker caused by oxidative stress, and the ensuing cellular dysfunction may be a factor contributing to the progressive deterioration in treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

Objectif: On a observé un raccourcissement des télomères dans beaucoup de maladies humaines, y compris l'athérosclérose, le cancer, les syndromes du vieillissement, la maladie d'Alzheimer et la démence vasculaire. L'étude visait à analyser la longueur moyenne des télomères chez les patients atteints de schizophrénie.

Méthodes: Nous avons analysé la longueur de l'ADN télomérique en comparant deux groupes de patients atteints de schizophrénie (34 qui réagissaient bien et 34 qui réagissaient mal). L'étude comportait aussi un groupe témoin de 76 volontaires en bonne santé. On a prélevé des échantillons de sang et mesuré la longueur des télomères par transfert de Southern portant sur la longueur moyenne du fragment de restriction terminal (FRT).

Résultats: Comparativement au groupe témoin, on a constaté un raccourcissement important des télomères dans les leucocytes du sang périphérique des patients atteints de schizophrénie qui réagissaient mal aux antipsychotiques (p < 0,001).

Conclusion: Le raccourcissement des télomères dans les cas de schizophrénie chronique peut constituer un marqueur caractéristique causé par le stress oxydatif, et le dysfonctionnement cellulaire qui en découle peut contribuer à la détérioration progressive dans les cas de schizophrénie résistant au traitement.

Keywords: DNA restriction enzymes; blotting, Southern; schizophrenia; telomere.

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Figures

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Fig. 1: An example of Southern blot for telomere lengths of leukocytes from patients with schizophrenia. Lanes 1 and 13 are λ DNA/Hind III molecular weight markers shown for comparison.
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Fig. 2: Association between mean telomere restriction fragment and age in control subjects (open circles), good responders with schizophrenia (black circles) and poor responders with schizophrenia (triangles). The linear regression lines are given for the control subjects, good responders and poor responders, respectively. The slopes of the 3 groups are different by the test of homogeneity of slopes from the analysis of covariance (p < 0.001). Good responders slope β = 0.020, F1,32 = 0.920, p = 0.35. Poor responders slope β = 0.007, F1,32 = 0.13, p = 0.72. Control subjects slope β = –0.080, F1,74 = 52.0, p < 0.001.
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