Immunological alterations in adult obsessive-compulsive disorder

Background: Some recent findings suggest the involvement of autoimmune mech anisms in childhood onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), on the ba sis of a parallel drawn with Sydenham's chorea, a manifestation of rheumati c fever, A monoclonal antibody called D8/D17 characterizing a B-lymphocyte antigen, present in almost all patients with rheumatic fever, has been foun d also in children affected by OCD, Tourette syndrome, and chronic ties to a greater degree than in healthy control subjects. The few observations of disturbances of some immunologic parameters in adul t OCD patients, prompted the authors to investigate and compare subsets of peripheral immunological cells for differences in adult patients with OCD a nd healthy control subjects, Methods: Twenty patients suffering from OCD, with no comorbidity for other psychiatric disorders, were compared with a similar group of healthy centra l subjects, The immune subsets were measured by Slow cytometry. Results: The CD8(+) lymphocytes were significantly increased and CD4(+) lym phocytes significantly decreased in OCD patients, while the other cells did not differ between the two groups, No correlation was found between immuno logic and clinical parameters. Conclusions: These data indicate that patients with adult OCD showed increa sed CD8(+), ie., suppressor T lymphocytes, and decreased CD4(+), which iden tify helper T lymphocytes, as compared with a similar group of healthy cent ral subjects. The findings appear peculiar to patients with OCD and are sug gestive of an immunologic imbalance, which might be related to the stress d eriving from the frustrating situation determined by the disorder itself. ( C) 1999 Society of Biological Psychiatry.