comparison of serum changes of interleukin-17a and interleukin-21 between schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals

Background: immunological alterations in schizophrenic patients have been considered during last decade. there are no remarkable reports on the changes of il-17a and il-21 in schizophrenic patients. therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate changes of serum il-17a and il-21 in schizophrenic patients in comparison with healthy controls.methods: in the present study serum levels of il-17a and il-21 in 30 patients with schizophrenia before treatment and three months after treatment were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) and compare to 30 match healthy control group.results: serum levels of il-21 in schizophrenic patient was significantly higher than control group (p= 0.001). serum levels of il-17a in the schizophrenic patients had no significant changes than the control group (p= 0.4). serum levels of il-17a in patients with schizophrenia three months after treatment than before treatment had no significant change (p=0.7) and il-21 serum levels in schizophrenic patient three month after treatment was not significant changed in comparison with this group before treatment (p= 0.06).conclusions: the serum levels of interlukine-21 is elevated in schizophrenic. results of this study showed that il-21 might be involved in the pathologic mechanism of schizophrenia.