Use of Canonical Correfslation Analysis to Evaluate the Strength of Relationships between Clinical and Biological Parameters

Studies were performed using, an example, the relationship between nonspecific immunity factors and therapeutic efficacy in endogenous psychosis. The canonical correlations method demonstrated a strong and significant (Canonical, R > 0.8; p = 0.02) positive relationship between the efficacy of treatment with neuroleptics (haloperidol and clozapine) and pretreatment nonspecific immunity factors in a group of juvenile and young adult (16–34 years) men with schizophrenia (34 patients), with first onset of manifest endogenous psychosis. Treatment efficacy was assessed in terms of the reduction (%) in total points on the PANSS or the numbers of points on PANSS subscales for positive, negative, and psychopathological disorders between the beginning and end of treatment (60 days). Initial values for nonspecific immunity factors (T-lymphocyte γ-interferon production levels, proportion of phagocytosing neutrophils and monocytes, and lymphocyte natural killer cytotoxic activity) were found to account for 67.3% (i.e., more than two thirds) of treatment efficacy. The contribution of nonspecific immunity factors resulted mainly from their essentially identical influences on decreases in positive and psychopathological symptoms and was minimal in relation to decreases in negative symptoms on the PANSS. The strongest relationships were seen with weighting coefficients for nonspecific immunity factors (in decreasing order) of 0.567 for the proportion of phagocytosing neutrophils and monocytes, 0.518 for T-lymphocyte γ-interferon production levels, and 0.334 for lymphocyte natural killer cytotoxic activity. It is suggested that there are reductions in the activities of factors of the cellular components of nonspecific immunity before manifestation of disease, which create the conditions for activation of persistent latent microorganisms (in the present case cytomegalovirus infection) in the patient’s body, with formation of therapeutic resistance. This method may find wide use in clinical and biological psychiatry and neurology.