Assay for the diagnosis of schizophrenia based on a new peptide

摘要

The invention concerns peptides which bind antibodies that are found in elevated levels in body fluids of schizophrenic patients and are found at a lower level or not found at all in body fluids of non-schizophrenic individuals. Using a computerized program, the antigenic epitope of the peptides of the invention is predicted as having a core of hydrophobic amino acids which is surrounded by positively charged amino acids. The peptides of the invention are useful in the diagnosis of schizophrenia in an individual.