Blood-Derived RNA- and microRNA-Hydrolyzing IgG Antibodies in Schizophrenia Patients

---

E. A. Ermakov^1,2, S. A. Ivanova³, V. N. Buneva^1,2, and G. A. Nevinsky^1,2,a*

¹Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia

²Novosibirsk State University, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia

³Mental Health Research Institute, Tomsk National Research Medical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 634014 Tomsk, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received September 7, 2017; Revision received December 26, 2017

---

Abzymes with various catalytic activities are the earliest statistically significant markers of existing and developing autoimmune diseases (AIDs). Currently, schizophrenia (SCZD) is not considered to be a typical AID. It was demonstrated recently that antibodies from SCZD patients efficiently hydrolyze DNA and myelin basic protein. Here, we showed for the first time that autoantibodies from 35 SCZD patients efficiently hydrolyze RNA (cCMP > poly(C) > poly(A) > yeast RNA) and analyzed site-specific hydrolysis of microRNAs involved in the regulation of several genes in SCZD (miR-137, miR-9-5p, miR-219-2-3p, and miR-219a-5p). All four microRNAs were cleaved by IgG preparations (n = 21) from SCZD patients in a site-specific manner. The RNase activity of the abzymes correlated with SCZD clinical parameters. The data obtained showed that SCZD patients might display signs of typical autoimmune processes associated with impaired functioning of microRNAs resulting from their hydrolysis by the abzymes.

---

KEY WORDS: abzymes, schizophrenia patients, polyribonucleotide, miRNA hydrolysis

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297918050048

---