Immunopsychiatry: important facts
Publication Date
2017-04-18Journal Title
Psychological Medicine
ISSN
0033-2917
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Khandaker, G., Dantzer, R., & Jones, P. (2017). Immunopsychiatry: important facts. Psychological Medicine https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291717000745
Abstract
Accumulating evidence indicate a role for the immune system particularly inflammation and autoimmunity in the aetiology of major psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. In this paper, we discuss some of the key advances in immunopsychiatry in order to highlight to psychiatrists and other health professionals how an increased understanding of this field might enhance our knowledge of illness mechanism and approaches to treatment. We present a brief overview of clinical research that link inflammation and autoimmunity with depression and psychosis, including potential role of inflammation in treatment response, current evidence for the effectiveness of immune-modulating treatment for depression and psychosis, and possible role of inflammation in common physical comorbidities for these disorders such as coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus. Gaining a better understanding of the role of immune system could be paradigm changing for psychiatry. We need collaborations between clinicians and scientists to deliver high-quality translational research in order to fully realise the clinical potential of this exciting and rapidly expanding field.
Keywords
autoimmunity, autoantibody, cytokine, depression, immune system, immunopsychiatry, inflammation, mental disorders, psychiatry, schizophrenia
Sponsorship
GMK is supported by an Intermediate Clinical Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust (201486/Z/16/Z) and a Clinical Lecturer Starter Grant from the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK (grant no. 80354). PBJ acknowledges grant support from the Wellcome Trust (095844/Z/11/Z & 088869/Z/09/Z) and NIHR (RP-PG-0606–1335, Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and CLAHRC East of England). RD has received grants from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health (grants R01 NS073939; R01 NS074999), the National Cancer Institute (R01CA193522) and the National Institute of Mental Health (R21MH104694).
Funder references
Wellcome Trust (201486/Z/16/Z)
Academy of Medical Sciences (unknown)
Wellcome Trust (088869/Z/09/Z)
Wellcome Trust (095844/Z/11/Z)
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291717000745
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/264316
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International