Replicated evidence of absence of association between serum S100B and (risk of) psychotic disorder.

Background: S100B is a potential marker of neurological and psychiatric illness. In schizophrenia, increased S100B levels, as well as associations with acute positive and persisting negative symptoms, have been reported. It remains unclear whether S100B elevation, which possibly reflects glial dysfunction, is the consequence of disease or compensatory processes, or whether it is an indicator of familial risk.

Methods: Serum samples were acquired from two large independent family samples (n = 348 and n = 254) in the Netherlands comprising patients with psychotic disorder (n = 140 and n = 82), non-psychotic siblings of patients with psychotic disorder (n = 125 and n = 94) and controls (n = 83 and n = 78). S100B was analyzed with a Liaison automated chemiluminescence system. Associations between familial risk of psychotic disorder and S100B were examined.

Results: Results showed that S100B levels in patients (P) and siblings (S) were not significantly different from controls (C) (dataset 1: P vs. C: B = 0.004, 95% CI -0.005 to 0.013, p = 0.351; S vs. C: B = 0.000, 95% CI -0.009 to 0.008, p = 0.926; and dataset 2: P vs. C: B = 0.008, 95% CI -0.011 to 0.028, p = 0.410; S vs. C: B = 0.002, 95% CI -0.016 to 0.021, p = 0.797). In patients, negative symptoms were positively associated with S100B (B = 0.001, 95% CI 0.000 to 0.002, p = 0.005) in one of the datasets, however with failure of replication in the other. There was no significant association between S100B and positive symptoms or present use or type of antipsychotic medication.

Conclusions: S100B is neither an intermediate phenotype, nor a trait marker for psychotic illness.