Doctors trial immune therapy used in MS to treat schizophrenia

Cheesus · Nov 3, 2017

During the next two years, 30 patients will receive monthly infusions of an antibody drug currently used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS), which the team hopes will target the root causes of schizophrenia in a far more fundamental way than current therapies.

The trial builds on more than a decade’s work by Oliver Howes, a professor of molecular psychiatry at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences and a consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in south London. Howes’s team is one of several worldwide to have uncovered evidence that abnormalities in immune activity in the brain may lie at the heart of the illness – for some patients, at least.
Click to expand...

Recent work by Howes and colleagues found that in the earliest stages of schizophrenia, people experience a surge in the number and activity of immune cells in the brain. As well as fighting infection, these cells, called microglia, have a “gardening” role, pruning unwanted connections between neurons. But in schizophrenia patients, the pruning appears to become more aggressive, leading to vital connections being lost.

“We studied people in that [initial] phase of the illness and saw microglial changes,” said Howes. “It shows that it’s something [happening] very early on and seems to be driving the illness.”

The most extensive pruning appears to occur in the frontal cortex, the brain’s master control centre, and also the auditory regions, which could explain why patients often hear voices. The frontal cortex indirectly controls the brain’s levels of dopamine – a surge in this brain chemical is thought to explain the delusions and paranoia experienced by those with schizophrenia.
Click to expand...

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/03/radical-new-approach-to-schizophrenia-treatment-begins-trial

Log in or Sign up

Doctors trial immune therapy used in MS to treat schizophrenia

Cheesus Established Member (Voting Rights)

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Doctors trial immune therapy used in MS to treat schizophrenia

Cheesus Established Member (Voting Rights)

Share This Page

Useful Searches