TY - JOUR
T1 - Positron Emission Tomography Studies of the Glial Cell Marker Translocator Protein in Patients With Psychosis
T2 - A Meta-analysis Using Individual Participant Data
AU - Plavén-Sigray, Pontus
AU - Matheson, Granville J.
AU - Collste, Karin
AU - Ashok, Abhishekh H.
AU - Coughlin, Jennifer M.
AU - Howes, Oliver D.
AU - Mizrahi, Romina
AU - Pomper, Martin G.
AU - Rusjan, Pablo
AU - Veronese, Mattia
AU - Wang, Yuchuan
AU - Cervenka, Simon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Society of Biological Psychiatry
PY - 2018/9/15
Y1 - 2018/9/15
N2 - Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that the immune system may be an important target for new treatment approaches in schizophrenia. Positron emission tomography and radioligands binding to the translocator protein (TSPO), which is expressed in glial cells in the brain including immune cells, represents a potential method for patient stratification and treatment monitoring. This study examined whether patients with first-episode psychosis and schizophrenia had altered TSPO levels compared with healthy control subjects. Methods: PubMed was searched for studies comparing patients with psychosis with healthy control subjects using second-generation TSPO radioligands. The outcome measure was total distribution volume (V T ), an index of TSPO levels, in frontal cortex, temporal cortex, and hippocampus. Bayes factors (BFs) were applied to examine the relative support for higher, lower, or no difference in patients’ TSPO levels compared with healthy control subjects. Results: Five studies, with 75 participants with first-episode psychosis or schizophrenia and 77 healthy control subjects, were included. BFs showed strong support for lower V T in patients relative to no difference (all BFs > 32), or relative to higher V T (all BFs > 422), in all brain regions. From the posterior distributions, mean patient–control differences in standardized V T values were −0.48 for frontal cortex (95% credible interval [CredInt] = −0.88 to 0.09), −0.47 for temporal cortex (CredInt = −0.87 to −0.07), and −0.63 for hippocampus (CredInt = −1.00 to −0.25). Conclusions: The lower levels of TSPO observed in patients may correspond to altered function or lower density of brain immune cells. Future studies should focus on investigating the underlying biological mechanisms and their relevance for treatment.
AB - Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that the immune system may be an important target for new treatment approaches in schizophrenia. Positron emission tomography and radioligands binding to the translocator protein (TSPO), which is expressed in glial cells in the brain including immune cells, represents a potential method for patient stratification and treatment monitoring. This study examined whether patients with first-episode psychosis and schizophrenia had altered TSPO levels compared with healthy control subjects. Methods: PubMed was searched for studies comparing patients with psychosis with healthy control subjects using second-generation TSPO radioligands. The outcome measure was total distribution volume (V T ), an index of TSPO levels, in frontal cortex, temporal cortex, and hippocampus. Bayes factors (BFs) were applied to examine the relative support for higher, lower, or no difference in patients’ TSPO levels compared with healthy control subjects. Results: Five studies, with 75 participants with first-episode psychosis or schizophrenia and 77 healthy control subjects, were included. BFs showed strong support for lower V T in patients relative to no difference (all BFs > 32), or relative to higher V T (all BFs > 422), in all brain regions. From the posterior distributions, mean patient–control differences in standardized V T values were −0.48 for frontal cortex (95% credible interval [CredInt] = −0.88 to 0.09), −0.47 for temporal cortex (CredInt = −0.87 to −0.07), and −0.63 for hippocampus (CredInt = −1.00 to −0.25). Conclusions: The lower levels of TSPO observed in patients may correspond to altered function or lower density of brain immune cells. Future studies should focus on investigating the underlying biological mechanisms and their relevance for treatment.
KW - Immune activation
KW - Meta-analysis
KW - Microglia
KW - Positron emission tomography
KW - Psychosis
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Translocator protein
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85045118862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85045118862&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.02.1171
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.02.1171
M3 - Article
C2 - 29653835
AN - SCOPUS:85045118862
SN - 0006-3223
VL - 84
SP - 433
EP - 442
JO - Biological psychiatry
JF - Biological psychiatry
IS - 6
ER -