Journal article

PET imaging of putative microglial activation in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis, recently diagnosed and chronically ill with schizophrenia

MA Di Biase, A Zalesky, G O'keefe, L Laskaris, BT Baune, CS Weickert, J Olver, PD McGorry, GP Amminger, B Nelson, AM Scott, I Hickie, R Banati, F Turkheimer, M Yaqub, IP Everall, C Pantelis, V Cropley

TRANSLATIONAL PSYCHIATRY | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2017

Abstract

We examined putative microglial activation as a function of illness course in schizophrenia. Microglial activity was quantified using [11C](R)-(1-[2-chrorophynyl]-N-methyl-N-[1-methylpropyl]-3 isoquinoline carboxamide (11C-(R)-PK11195) positron emission tomography (PET) in: (i) 10 individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) of psychosis; (ii) 18 patients recently diagnosed with schizophrenia; (iii) 15 patients chronically ill with schizophrenia; and, (iv) 27 age-matched healthy controls. Regional-binding potential (BPND) was calculated using the simplified reference-tissue model with four alternative reference inputs. The UHR, recent-onset and chronic patient groups were compared to age-matched hea..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)


Awarded by Royal Melbourne Hospital


Awarded by NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grant


Awarded by University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher grant


Awarded by NHMRC Early Career Fellowship


Awarded by NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship


Awarded by NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship


Awarded by MRC


Awarded by Medical Research Council


Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia


Funding Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge all participants for making this study possible. In addition, we kindly thank Steven Tahtalian, Eleni Ganella and Cassandra Wannan for assisting with data collection, Drs Lee and Kumar for assisting with patient recruitment and Dr Phassouliotis for study coordination. We are grateful to A/Prof Fornito for his intellectual input and Prof Paul Cumming for many fruitful discussions on PET analysis. We thank Kunthi Pathmaraj for providing technical PET support on this study. Finally, we are grateful to Melbourne Health and Austin Health for providing access to participant information. This study was supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant (1065742), a Royal Melbourne Hospital Grant in Aid (GIA-030-2016), a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grant (18722 to CP), a University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher grant (601253 to VC), Australian Rotary Health, Ian Scott PhD Scholarship in Mental Health (to MAD), an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (628880 to VC), a University of Melbourne Faculty Fellowship (to VC and BN), an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship to CP (628386, 1105825) and NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship to CSW (1117079), a NARSAD Independent Investigator Award (to BN), the Schizophrenia Research Institute (utilizing infrastructure funding from the NSW Ministry of Health and the Macquarie Group Foundation), the University of New South Wales (to CSW) and Neuroscience Research Australia.