Gut-immune Psychosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Prognostic significance of IgG anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) positivity in patients at their first psychotic episode (FEP).
IRAS ID
244125
Contact name
Amedeo Minichino
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford/CTRG
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Several environmental risk factors for the development of Psychotic Spectrum Disorders (PSDs) converge on the gastrointestinal tract. Environmental hits might trigger alterations in the microbiome composition, which in turns affect the development of gastrointestinal immune tolerance to usually neutral stimuli, such as food antigens and commensal gut pathogens. This environmental component, acting on a genetic milieu - which seems to heavily involve adaptive immunity responses in PSDs – might lead to the onset of systemic inflammatory responses with downstream effects on brain functions. A dysfunctional gut-microbiome-immune-brain axis might be central to the pathogenesis of PSDs, at least in a subgroup of individuals with altered tolerance to gastrointestinal related products. A better characterization of this subgroup of individuals might provide useful hints for developing more tailored intervention and thus lead to greater chances of therapeutic success.
The question that we want to address in the current study is the following:
Is positivity to IgG anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) associated with response to treatment in PSDs, and, if yes what are the gut-immune-brain axis dysregulations driving this association?For this reason we are willing to recruit volunteers at their first psychotic episode and healthy comparison volunteers. Volunteers with a first psychotic episodes will be followed-up to evaluate their response to treatment over time.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0408
Date of REC Opinion
1 Nov 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion