Background: Schizophrenia is a major psychiatric disorder with unknown aetiology. Recent evidence suggests a potential role for cytokines in its pathophysiology and that antipsychotic medication may alter this. While the aetiology of schizophrenia remains only partly understood, an altered immune function representing an important avenue of further discovery. In this systematic review and meta-analysis we focus on the specific effects of second generation antipsychotics risperidone and clozapine on inflammatory cytokines.
Methods: A defined systematic search of PubMed and Web of Science databases was performed to identify relevant studies published between Jan 1900 and May 2022. After screening of 2969 papers, 43 studies (27 single-arm and 8 dual-arm) were included that consisted of a total of 1421 patients with schizophrenia in the systematic review. From these, twenty studies (4 dual-arm; 678 patients) had data available on which a meta-analysis could be carried out.
Results: Our meta-analysis showed a significant reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines post-risperidone treatment in the absence of a similar association with clozapine. Subgroup analyses (First episode v chronic) demonstrated that duration of illness influenced the extent of cytokine alteration; risperidone treatment produced significant cytokine changes (lowered IL-6 and TNF-α) in chronic patients but not in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients.
Conclusion: Varying treatment effects on cytokines can be observed by the use of different antipsychotic drugs. The cytokine alterations post-treatment are influenced by the specific antipsychotic drugs and patient status. This may explain disease progression in certain patient groups and influence therapeutic choices in the future.
Keywords: Antipsychotic drug; Cytokine; Inflammation; Schizophrenia; meta-Analysis.
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