Immuno-Psychiatry: Facts and Prospects

This book presents a thorough and critical review of current knowledge on the role of immunology in major psychiatric disorders and its potential applications. The opening chapters offer general information on the immune influence of the brain to provide readers with a better understanding of the end of immune privilege. The book then examines possible underlying mechanisms leading to psychiatric disorders, from early infections to pro-inflammatory markers, stress, and immune genetic background, linking etiology and psychiatry. The third section describes each disorder (ie autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression…) with an overview of underlying immune dysfunctions. Lastly, the authors discuss the innovative immune-therapies that may result from the discovery of immune system biomarkers and their associated mechanisms. A better understanding of the role of the immune system in psychiatric disorders makes it possible to identify stratification biomarkers, to explain underlying mechanisms, and to develop innovative, efficient, targeted treatment strategies and management. As such, the book is of value to clinicians, mental health professionals, mental health researchers, immunologists, industry practitioners, and various stakeholders in the mental health field.

About the Author

Michael Berk is an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow at Deakin University, where he heads the IMPACT institute. He is listed by Thompson Reuters as amongst the world’s most influential scientific minds (2015-2020) and was awarded the Brain&Behaviour (NARSAD) Colvin Award for Mood Disorders in 2015, the Victoria Prize for life sciences in 2019 and the International Society for Bipolar Disorders Bob Post award for mentorship in 2020. He is past president of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and the Australasian Society for Bipolar and Depressive Disorders. His major interests are in the discovery and implementation of novel therapies.

Marion Leboyer M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Paris Est Créteil (UPEC) in France. She is Head of the University-affiliated Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, DMU IMPACT (Hôpitaux Universitaires Mondor, Assistance-Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris) and runs the “Translational Neuro Psychiatry” laboratory which is part of the Mondor Institute for Biomedical Research (Inserm U955). Since 2007, she has been the Executive Director of the non profit foundation, “Fondation FondaMental”, created by the French Ministry of Research. She is President of the ECNP Immuno-psychiatry TWG. She is listed as a highly cited researcher in 2020.