Department of Psychiatry, Østfold Hospital, Fredrikstad, Norway.
J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2010 Sep;35(5):304-10. doi: 10.1503/jpn.090088.
Severe mental disorders are associated with elevated levels of inflammatory markers. In the present study, we investigated whether osteoprotegerin (OPG), a member of the tumour necrosis factor receptor family involved in calcification and inflammation, is elevated in patients with severe mental disorders.
We measured the plasma levels of OPG in patients with severe mental disorders (n = 312; 125 with bipolar disorder and 187 with schizophrenia) and healthy volunteers (n = 239).
The mean plasma levels of OPG were significantly higher in patients than in controls (t531 = 2.6, p = 0.01), with the same pattern in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The increase was significant after adjustment for possible confounding variables, including age, sex, ethnic background, alcohol consumption, liver and kidney function, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases and levels of cholesterol, glucose and C-reactive protein.
Owing to the cross-sectional design, it is difficult to determine causality.
Our results indicate that elevated OPG levels are associated with severe mental disorders and suggest that mechanisms related to calcification and inflammation may play a role in disease development.
严重的精神障碍与炎症标志物水平升高有关。在本研究中，我们研究了骨保护素（OPG），一种参与钙化和炎症的肿瘤坏死因子受体家族成员，是否在严重精神障碍患者中升高。
我们测量了 312 名严重精神障碍患者（125 名双相情感障碍患者和 187 名精神分裂症患者）和 239 名健康志愿者的血浆 OPG 水平。
患者的平均血浆 OPG 水平明显高于对照组（t531 = 2.6，p = 0.01），在双相情感障碍和精神分裂症中也是如此。在调整了可能的混杂变量（包括年龄、性别、种族背景、饮酒、肝肾功能、糖尿病、心血管疾病、自身免疫性疾病以及胆固醇、葡萄糖和 C 反应蛋白水平）后，这种增加仍然显著。
由于横断面设计，难以确定因果关系。
我们的结果表明，OPG 水平升高与严重精神障碍有关，并提示与钙化和炎症相关的机制可能在疾病发展中起作用。
