Immunopsychiatry: Investigating the role of inflammation in depression and other psychiatric disorders

精神疾病在一生中影响着四分之一的人，但目前治疗抑郁症的方法对三分之一的人无效。因此，迫切需要开发新的、更有针对性的治疗方法。我们的研究重点是炎症(免疫系统某一成分的过度活跃)在抑郁症中的作用，以更好地了解这种情况是如何发展的，以及在谁身上发生。我们使用关于精神症状、基因构成和基于血液的生物标志物的大规模人口数据来检查：i)炎症可能是抑郁症的原因；ii)抑制免疫途径可能产生的副作用；iii)炎症可能是导致精神疾病的常见原因；以及iv)抑郁症中存在与炎症相关的亚群(S)。这些问题的答案将帮助我们开发新的、更有针对性的抑郁症治疗方法。

Mental illnesses affect one in four people in the lifetime, but current treatments for depression are ineffective for up to one in three people. Therefore, there is an urgent need for developing new and more targeted treatments. Our research focuses on the role of inflammation (overactivity of one component of the immune system) in depression to better understand how this condition develops and in whom. We use large-scale population data on psychiatric symptoms, genetic make-up, and blood-based biomarkers to examine whether: i) inflammation could be a cause for depression; ii) possible side effects of supressing immune pathways; iii) inflammation could be a common cause for >1 psychiatric conditions; and iv) there are inflammation related subgroup(s) within depression. Answers to these questions will help us to develop new and more targeted treatment for depression.