Pathological 43-kDa transactivation response DNA-binding protein in older adults with and without severe mental illness.

Background: Major psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and mood disorders have not been linked to a specific pathology, but their clinical features overlap with some aspects of the behavioral variant of frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Although the significance of pathological 43-kDa (transactivation response) DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) for frontotemporal lobar degeneration was appreciated only recently, the prevalence of TDP-43 pathology in patients with severe mental illness vs controls has not been systematically addressed.

Objective: To examine patients with chronic psychiatric diseases, mainly schizophrenia, for evidence of neurodegenerative TDP-43 pathology in comparison with controls.