Kassal Yassmine, El Hessni Aboubaker, Mesfioui Abdelhalim, Fritah Khadija, Nakidi Naila, Boukouaci Wahid, Rkhaila Amine, Bouassida Jihane, Belbachir Siham, Laboudi Fouad, Ouanass Abderrazak, Leboyer Marion, Tamouza Ryad, Arji Naima
Laboratory of Biology and Health, Faculty of Science, Ibn Tofail University, 14000 Kenitra, Morocco.
Laboratory of Biology and Health, Faculty of Science, Ibn Tofail University, 14000 Kenitra, Morocco.
Encephale. 2025 Jul 4. doi: 10.1016/j.encep.2025.05.001.
The present study investigates the prevalence of antinuclear autoantibodies among Moroccan patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls and examines the potential associations between the presence of antinuclear autoantibodies and selected sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients with schizophrenia.
A cross-sectional assessment was conducted between May 2020 and December 2022. The study involved a total of 157 patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted to the Ar-Razi Psychiatric Hospital of Ibn Sina University Hospital Center of Rabat, Morocco. A total of 115 healthy controls (blood donors) were recruited from the transfusion center of Kenitra, Morocco. Antinuclear autoantibodies screening was performed by an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using HEp-2 cells/liver (Monkey), and 16 specificities of nuclear antigens (ENA) were tested using immunodot assay on an automated platform.
The prevalence of antinuclear autoantibodies was significantly higher in patients as compared to healthy control (35 vs. 12.7% with P<0.05) suggesting strongly underlying autoimmune processes in the studied patients. Among the 55 samples tested positive for antinuclear autoantibodies in patients, a total of 29 samples had a positive immunodot result against the following antigens: Jo1, SSA, SSB, Ro 52, AMA-M2, PM-Scl, Sm and Sm/RNP. Logistic regression analysis identified tobacco consumption as the only significant predictor of positive antinuclear autoantibodies (B=2.179, P=0.018).
This preliminary study provides original data on the prevalence of antinuclear autoantibodies in Moroccan patients with schizophrenia and reveals a strong association between tobacco consumption and antinuclear autoantibodies positivity. The present findings replicate the previously reported association between autoimmune processes and schizophrenia in other geographical areas and warrant extension to other circulating autoantibodies towards a full profiling of autoimmunity in Moroccan patients with schizophrenia.
本研究调查了摩洛哥精神分裂症患者与健康对照者中抗核自身抗体的患病率，并探讨了抗核自身抗体的存在与精神分裂症患者选定的社会人口学和临床特征之间的潜在关联。
于2020年5月至2022年12月进行了一项横断面评估。该研究共纳入了157名被诊断为精神分裂症并入住摩洛哥拉巴特伊本·西那大学医院中心阿-拉齐精神病医院的患者。从摩洛哥凯尼特拉输血中心招募了115名健康对照者（献血者）。采用间接免疫荧光法（IFA）使用HEp-2细胞/肝脏（猴）进行抗核自身抗体筛查，并在自动化平台上使用免疫斑点法检测16种核抗原（ENA）的特异性。
与健康对照相比，患者中抗核自身抗体的患病率显著更高（35%对12.7%，P<0.05），这强烈表明所研究患者存在潜在的自身免疫过程。在患者中55份抗核自身抗体检测呈阳性的样本中，共有29份样本针对以下抗原的免疫斑点结果呈阳性：Jo1、SSA、SSB、Ro 52、AMA-M2、PM-Scl、Sm和Sm/RNP。逻辑回归分析确定吸烟是抗核自身抗体阳性的唯一显著预测因素（B=2.179，P=0.018）。
这项初步研究提供了摩洛哥精神分裂症患者抗核自身抗体患病率的原始数据，并揭示了吸烟与抗核自身抗体阳性之间的密切关联。本研究结果重复了先前在其他地理区域报道的自身免疫过程与精神分裂症之间的关联，有必要扩展到其他循环自身抗体，以全面了解摩洛哥精神分裂症患者的自身免疫情况。
