Viral Causes of Major Psychiatric Disorders

            Recent interest in the potential role of viruses in the pathogenesis of major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, has focused on specific candidate viruses.  Originally isolated from horses with behavioral abnormalities and since detected in sheep, cats, ostriches and cattle, Borna disease virus (BDV), which, as a member of the Bornaviridae family, possesses a non-segmented, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA genome with five open reading frames, is one such candidate.  As determined by the indirect immunofluorescence test and Western blot analysis, IgG antibodies against BDV have been reported in patients with psychiatric disorders.  Using nested RT-PCR, we examined RNA extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 81 Korean psychiatric patients (39 with schizophrenia, 33 with bipolar affective disorders and 9 with major depression) for a 391-nucleotide, highly conserved region of the p24 protein-encoding ORF II of BDV.  Although BDV RNA was not found in PBMC from any of the 81 psychiatric patients in Korea, the possibility remains that BDV may cause major psychiatric disorders.  Studies, targeting brain tissues from psychiatric patients, are underway.

Kim, Y.K., Kim, S.H., Choi, S.-H., Ko, Y.-H., Kim, L., Lee, M.S., Suh, K.Y., Kwak, D.-I., Song, K.-J., Lee, Y.J., Yanagihara, R., and Song, J.-W.:  Failure to demonstrate Borna disease virus genome in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from psychiatric patients in Korea.  Journal of NeuroVirology 1999;5:196-199.

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