T12. THE RELATIONSHIP OF INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY FACTORS WITH SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC AND PHYSICAL HEALTH FACTORS AND PANSS SCORES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have pointed to the gut-brain axis as a new venue for treatment of psychiatric disorders, with increased inflammation stemming from increased intestinal permeability to further affect brain functioning in a significant subset of patients. Yet, this line of research is still in its infancy, with multiple studies showing increased intestinal permeability in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, demonstrated as translocation of food and bacterial antigens, as well as intestinal microbiome disturbances. METHODS: Therefore, we measured intestinal permeability markers soluble CD14 (sCD14) and lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Intestinal permeability markers were compared to several sociodemographic, including age, gender and BMI, and physical health variables, including CRP, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL and non-HDL, and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores. Of the control group (n = 43), 76.7% was male, with a mean age of 25.1 years. Of the schizophrenia group (n = 105) 75.2 % was male, with a mean age of 27.4 years and an average PANSS score of 57.2. RESULTS: Levels of LBP and sCD14 were not significantly different between schizophrenia patients and controls. LBP and sCD14 levels were neither correlated in the control group, nor in the schizophrenia group. In the control group Females had elevated LBP levels compared to males (p < 0.01), but not in the schizophrenia group. Quantitative levels of LBP, but not sCD14, correlated with triglycerides in the schizophrenia group (R2 = 0.049, p < 0.05). Furthermore, quantitative levels of sCD14, but not LBP, correlated with CRP in the schizophrenia group (R2 = 0.078, p < 0.05). Finally, LBP levels in patients correlated with PANSS negative scores (R2 = 0.055, p < 0.05). Neither a correlation of LBP and sCD14 with age, nor with BMI was observed in both the control and the schizophrenia group. DISCUSSION: In conclusion, these intestinal permeability markers showed few differences between the schizophrenia and the control group. We found weak, yet significant correlations with triglycerides, CRP and severity of negative symptoms, which may be caused by poor eating habits or metabolic syndrome leading to leaky gut in the more severely affected patients. These results are not in line with results of Severance et al. (2013), who performed a similar analysis and found differences in intestinal permeability markers between a control group and a schizophrenia group. Furthermore, they did observe a positive correlation between sCD14 and LBP in both the control and the schizophrenia group. The difference between that study and our current findings may stem from the different patients samples, as we assessed patients in their first five years after diagnosis, when metabolic syndrome was less abundant.