Inflammation and Oxidative stress in Early Psychosis: a multimodal data science and brain imaging approach

Low-grade activation of the innate immune system could be important in the pathogenesis of psychosis, and potentially a target for new treatments. Brain related inflammatory mediators include interleukin 6, nitric oxide and chemokines. A reduced oxidative defence to oxidative stress may potentially be responsible for brain changes seen in psychosis. However a number of questions need to be answered before new treatment molecules are developed, including the symptom profile associated with inflammation and oxidative stress, to allow targeting of new treatments and the relevance of peripheral markers of inflammation to brain related oxidative defence and direct brain change. This study will build on the MRC funded Psychosis Immune Mechanism Stratified Medicine study (PIMS) and Study of Psychosis and the Role of Inflammation and GABA/Glutamate (SPRING), and use existing data together with newly acquired data including 1H-MRS spectroscopy to examine the clinical and neuroanatomical relevance and relationship between inflammatory state, oxidative stress and defence in participants with early psychosis. Methods will include a data science driven approach to model the symptom and neuroanatomical profile associated with elevated innate immune activation and oxidative stress, and advanced neuroimaging analysis.