Abstract
The level hydrolysis of myelin basic protein (MBP) by IgG in patients with schizophrenia was studied depending on the clinical features and course of the disease. The patients were grouped according to type of schizophrenia and type of disease course. We found that IgGs isolated and purified from sera of schizophrenia patients' blood hydrolyses human MBP, and the level of this hydrolysis significantly exceeds that of healthy individuals. Detection of protease activity corresponding only to intact IgGs in polyacrylamide gel fragments, together with data of gel filtration of antibodies under conditions of "acid shock" (concordance of optical density profile of IgG with profile of MBP-hydrolyzing activity) and with the absence of any other proteins and bands in gradient SDS-PAGE and in PVDF membrane provides direct evidence that the IgGs from the schizophrenia patients have MBP-hydrolyzing activity. The antibodies-specific proteolytic activity of patients with acute schizophrenia (1.026 [0.205; 3.372] mg MBP/mg IgG/h) significantly exceeds the activity of IgG in patients in remission (0.656 [0.279; 0.873] mg MBP/mg IgG/h) and in healthy individuals (0.000 [0.00; 0.367] mg MBP/mg IgG/h). When comparing the specific activity in patients with different types of disease course, we have found that patients with a continuous course of paranoid schizophrenia (1.810 [0.746; 4.101 mg MBP/mg IgG/h]) had maximal activity values. It can be assumed that the increase in the activity of MBP-hydrolyzing antibodies is due to the activation of humoral immunity in acute schizophrenia.