Imagine living with a severe psychiatric disorder and wondering if something else, like an undetected autoimmune disease, might be playing a role. This study looked for a clue in the spinal fluid and blood.
Researchers measured a protein called sCD27 in 115 patients with severe psychiatric disorders, 37 people with multiple sclerosis, and 154 age-matched controls. They found that 23% of the psychiatric patients had elevated sCD27 in their spinal fluid, and 15% in their blood. For comparison, 88% of MS patients had elevated spinal fluid sCD27. The key finding was that elevated spinal fluid sCD27 in psychiatric patients was linked to having a comorbid autoimmune disease and to markers of neuroinflammation.
The study shows an association, not a cause. It involved a specific group of patients, so we can't generalize the results to everyone. The evidence is early and the certainty is not established. Still, it suggests that measuring sCD27 in both spinal fluid and blood could help identify psychiatric patients who might have an underlying autoimmune condition.