Does a monoclonal antibody targeting immune cells affect glutamatergic level in schizophrenia? A multimodal PET/MRS brain imaging study
Abstract
Microglial dysfunction and glutamatergic dysregulation are implicated in the neurobiology of schizophrenia. Microglia regulate brain glutamate levels through mechanisms including the cysteine-glutamate antiporter, raising the possibility that microglial dysfunction could underlie glutamatergic dysregulation in schizophrenia. We tested this using a combined cross-sectional/longitudinal study of individuals with first episode psychosis and healthy controls. We investigated two hypotheses: (1) increase in a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging marker of microglia is associated with increased anterior cingulate (ACC) glutamate levels; and (2) reducing immune trafficking into the CNS using the monoclonal antibody natalizumab would reduce ACC glutamate levels in people with first-episode psychosis. A total of 108 participants (68 patients and 40 healthy controls) underwent simultaneous proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to quantify ACC glutamate and glutamate/glutamine (glx) levels and PET imaging with [18 F]DPA-714 to quantify translocator protein (TSPO) levels, a protein highly expressed by microglia in neuroinflammatory conditions. In the longitudinal arm, 50 first-episode psychosis patients were included and either randomised to receive natalizumab or placebo double-blind, or received open-label natalizumab. At baseline, there was no significant association between ACC glutamate concentration and ACC TSPO binding in the entire sample (β = -0.003, SE = 0.006, p =…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 108 participants or records.
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