Abstract
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder with overlapping biological, genetic and environmental factors. During the last years, extensive scientific studies have been carried out, demonstrating a close relationship between the immune system, inflammation and psychopathology of schizophrenia. The relationship between dysregulation of the immune system and the severity of psychotic symptoms and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia has been demonstrated. In the last two decades, the use of anti-inflammatory drugs in the schizophrenia pharmacotherapy has been studied. The aim of this study is to review the latest scientific reports, focusing on adjuvant anti-inflammatory therapy in schizophrenia. Studies using cyclooxygenase inhibitors, involving mainly celecoxib, have shown they can be effective in reducing psychotic symptoms in patients during the first episodes of schizophrenia and during an active phase of chronic disease. Despite many reports supporting efficacy of simvastatin in controlling positive and negative symptoms, its use is still a contentious issue due to the side effects. It has been reported that phosphodiesterase inhibitors can also be a group of drugs with a positive effect on the functioning of the patients suffering from schizophrenia. Pregnenolone, as a representative of neurosteroids, is effective in reducing the severity of negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Despite numerous studies, it is still not possible to create specific pharmacotherapeutic recommendations due to methodological limitations of the conducted research.