Antibodies Could Be ‘Radically Life-Changing’ New Treatment for OCD and Other Mental Disorders

Description

Mental health conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) could be treated in a new way using drugs that target the immune system instead of the central nervous system, suggests exciting new research.

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London and the University of Roehampton, London, have discovered that patients suffering from OCD have increased levels of a protein called Immuno-moodulin (Imood) in their lymphocytes, a type of immune cell.

Mice with high levels of this protein were also found to exhibit behaviors that are characteristic of anxiety and stress, such as digging and excessive grooming.

Period	30 Apr 2020