Multivariate relationships between peripheral inflammatory marker subtypes and cognitive and brain structural...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Immunology

Background:

• Peripheral inflammatory markers are elevated in psychosis patients.
• The specific inflammatory processes and their links to brain structure and cognition are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate patterns of peripheral inflammatory markers across the psychosis spectrum.
• To identify inflammatory subtypes and their association with neuroimaging, cognition, and clinical features.

Main Methods:

• Assessed 15 peripheral inflammatory markers, brain structure, cognition, and symptoms in psychosis probands and healthy controls.
• Utilized unsupervised exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical clustering to define inflammation subtypes.
• Compared marker levels, neuroimaging, cognitive performance, and symptom severity between groups.

Main Results:

• Elevated levels of IL6, TNFα, VEGF, and CRP were observed in psychosis probands compared to controls.
• A subgroup with elevated inflammation (7 markers) was identified in 36% of probands and 20% of controls.
• This elevated inflammation subgroup exhibited poorer visuo-spatial working memory, impaired response inhibition, larger subcortical volumes (hippocampus, amygdala, putamen, thalamus), and increased gray matter thickness.

Conclusions:

• Peripheral inflammatory marker patterns and subtypes are associated with psychosis.
• Increased inflammatory activation in psychosis is linked to specific cognitive deficits and neuroanatomic alterations.
• Identification of an inflammatory subgroup may guide targeted anti-inflammatory treatment strategies.