Associations of Morphometric Changes of the Brain with the Levels of IGF1, a Multifunctional Growth Factor, and with Systemic Immune Parameters Reflect the Disturbances of Neuroimmune Interactions in Patients with Schizophrenia

The development of neuroimaging methods allows to obtain new data on the brain functioning to find neuroimaging patterns of psychopathological conditions, creating a basis for further application of neuroscience research results in practical medicine. The involvement of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), which has a wide range of biological functions that include stimulation of glucose metabolism and transport, stimulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, inhibition of cell apoptosis and immune process regulation, is of great interest in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The aim of the work was to study possible associations of structural brain changes according to fMRI data with a multifunctional growth factor, IGF1, and systemic inflammatory immunity parameters for multilateral assessment of the state of neuro-immune interrelations in schizophrenia. 52 schizophrenic patients and 67 healthy volunteers were enrolled into the study. An interdisciplinary approach was used, including psychological testing (clinical method), neurophysiological and immunological testing, and cross-methodological calculations. Patients with decreased IGF-1 levels had the reduced average cortical thickness in a number of cortical areas in the left and right hemisphere. Patients with low IGF1 levels had higher systemic inflammation and signs of autoimmune reactions. Assessment of association of IGF-1 levels with clinical symptoms has shown that decreased IGF-1 levels were associated with motor disorders. The results show that the level of IGF1 growth factor reflects the features of immune-inflammatory disorders, the severity of brain morphometric disorders and extrapyramidal disorders in patients with schizophrenia. The identified associations show the presence and significance of impaired neuroimmune interactions in schizophrenia.