Loading…
Evidence for an Immune Role on Cognition in Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review
Objective: Recent evidence has associated immune and inflammatory changes to cognitive performance in many diseases, including schizophrenia. Since this is a new research field where concepts are not yet solid and new questions and hypothesis are still arising, the present study aimed at summarizing...
Saved in:
Published in: | Current neuropharmacology 2014-05, Vol.12 (3), p.273-280 |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Citations: | Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Summary: | Objective: Recent evidence has associated immune and inflammatory changes to cognitive performance in
many diseases, including schizophrenia. Since this is a new research field where concepts are not yet solid and new
questions and hypothesis are still arising, the present study aimed at summarizing the available clinical data associating
schizophrenia, cognition and inflammation/immune function.
;
Methods: A systematic review of the literature was made by searching the following terms in Medline: "schizophrenia or
psychosis or psychotic" AND "inflamm* or immun* or cytokine or IL-* or TNF-* or kynureni* or KYNA", AND
"cognit* or attention or memory or executive function".
;
Results: Seventy five papers were identified using the selected terms, and seven papers were included in the review.
Papers excluded focused mainly on basic research or other neuropsychiatric disorders.
;
Conclusions: Recent findings link inflammatory markers to cognition in schizophrenia, suggesting that inflammation is
associated with worst cognitive performance. Microglial activation, monoaminergic imbalance, brain abnormalities and
the kynurenine pathway are possible mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Clinical trials with
addition of immunomodulatory drugs have shown promising results, opening new windows to tackle cognition in
schizophrenia. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1570-159X 1875-6190 |
DOI: | 10.2174/1570159X1203140511160832 |