Analysis of serum beclin-1 and ATG5 levels in schizophrenia patients, healthy siblings, and healthy controls

The aim of our study was to measure the levels of Beclin-1 and Autophagy-related 5 (Atg5) proteins, which play an important role in a cellular process called autophagy, in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, their healthy siblings, and a control group. The study aimed to investigate whether there were any differences between the groups and to evaluate the role of autophagy in the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. The study included 26 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-5 criteria, their 26 healthy siblings, and 26 healthy controls. Socio-demographic and clinical information forms were completed for all participants. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were evaluated using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES), and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) scale. Serum Beclin1 and Atg5 levels of the participants were measured using the ELISA method. The statistical analysis of the data was performed using the SPSS 22.0 Windows version software package and the MedCalc 19.8 software package. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. When the patient and control groups were compared in terms of Beclin-1 and Atg5 values, statistically significant differences were found (p < 0.05 for each). There was no significant difference in Beclin-1 and Atg5 levels between the patient and healthy sibling group (p > 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in Beclin-1 and Atg5 levels between the healthy sibling and control groups (p < 0.05). In the correlation analysis, no relationship was found between Beclin-1 and Atg5 levels in patients, while a moderately positive relationship was found in the healthy sibling group (r = 0.488; p = 0.011). To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate Beclin-1 and Atg5 levels in patients with schizophrenia and their healthy siblings. Our study is important in demonstrating the potential role of autophagy in the etiology of schizophrenia and the similar impairment of autophagy in healthy siblings of individuals with schizophrenia. Further studies with larger samples and inclusion of different races are needed to interpret this as an endophenotypic feature and to use Beclin-1 and Atg5 levels as markers.