Word recognition memory and serum levels of Borna disease virus specific circulating immune complexes in obsessive–compulsive disorder

Background Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1) is a non-segmented, negative-strand RNA virus that persistently infects mammals including humans. BoDV-1 worldwide occurring strains display highly conserved genomes with overlapping genetic signatures between those of either human or animal origin. BoDV-1 infection may cause behavioral and cognitive disturbances in animals but has also been found in human major depression and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). However, the impact of BoDV-1 on memory functions in OCD is unknown. Method To evaluate the cognitive impact of BoDV-1 in OCD, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded in a continuous word recognition paradigm in OCD patients ( n = 16) and in healthy controls ( n = 12). According to the presence of BoDV-1-specific circulating immune complexes (CIC), they were divided into two groups, namely group H (high) and L (low), n = 8 each. Typically, ERPs to repeated items are characterized by more positive waveforms beginning approximately 250 ms post-stimulus. This “old/new effect” has been shown to be relevant for memory processing. The early old/new effect (ca. 300–500 ms) with a frontal distribution is proposed to be a neural correlate of familiarity-based recognition. The late old/new effect (post-500 ms) is supposed to reflect memory recollection processes. Results OCD patients were reported to show a normal early old/new effect and a reduced late old/new effect compared to normal controls. In our study, OCD patients with a high virus load (group H) displayed exactly these effects, while patients with a low virus load (group L) did not differ from healthy controls. Conclusion These results confirmed that OCD patients had impaired memory recollection processes compared to the normal controls which may to some extent be related to their BoDV-1 infection.