From 1 to 4 May, international experts from the fields of psychiatry, immunology and neurology will be meeting at Reisensburg Castle in Günzburg on the Danube. The 17th Expert Meeting on Psychoimmunology will focus on the question of how immune processes affect mental health. Host is Professor Karl Bechter from the Ulm University Hospital.
Over the course of four days, more than 70 female and male scientists will discuss current research findings and new therapeutic approaches in the field of immunopsychiatry - both on site and online. The researchers come from Europe, the USA, Australia and China. They focus on the role of the immune system in the development and treatment of mental or psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"Modern psychiatry is currently experiencing a paradigm shift. It is increasingly being recognised that immune processes play a serious role in the development of mental disorders. Malfunctions in the immune system can cause severe depression or bipolar disorder," explains Professor Karl Bechter. The Medicine Professor is head of the Psychoimmunology working group in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II at the Ulm University Hospital in Bezirkskrankenhaus Günzburg (district hospital).
One focus of this year's conference is personalised diagnostics and therapy. Novel biomarkers, genomic analyses and innovative methods for examining cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) should help to uncover individual disease risks, better detect diseases and treat them in a targeted manner. The opening lecture on Thursday evening will be given by Professor Cynthia Shannon Weickert (University of New South Wales, Sydney), who has found neuroinflammatory traces in the brains of deceased schizophrenia patients. Professor Harald Prüß (Charité, Berlin) will then talk about the detection of autoantibodies in the cerebral cerebrospinal fluid of people suffering from psychosis, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This approach makes it possible to develop new laboratory diagnostic approaches for mental disorders. In addition, new immunomodulatory therapies have already been used very successfully for corresponding findings.
Anti-inflammatory immunotherapies for the treatment of mental disorders
There is now increasing evidence that neuro-inflammatory autoimmune processes impair the functioning of the brain and mental health. Conversely, there are also initial reports of success in treating severe depression and bipolar disorder with the help of anti-inflammatory immunotherapy. For example, a multi-million Euro EU project was able to show that - in a subgroup of patients with a certain immuno-genetic expression profile - inflammatory reactions could be reduced and the symptoms of mental illness alleviated by correcting disturbed T-cell activities. The project was led by Professor Hemmo Drexhage (Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam), who is also taking part in the conference in Günzburg.
"The interdisciplinary conference puts psychiatric disorders on an organic, immune-mediated footing. This innovative approach opens up completely new scope for the treatment of mental illnesses, which not only alleviates the symptoms but also tackles the causes," emphasises Professor Karl Bechter, who organised the 17th Experts Meeting together with colleagues from Aachen and Freiburg.
Further information:
Prof. Dr Karl Bechter, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II of the Ulm University Hospital at Bezirkskrankenhaus Günzburg (district hospital), e-mail: Karl.Bechter(at)bkh-guenzburg.de
Substitutes from the media have the opportunity to attend the conference. The conference language is English.
German-speaking scientists will also be available for interviews, for example Prof Dr Karl Bechter from the Ulm University Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy II
Appendix: Conference programme 17th Psychoimmunology Expert Meeting
Text and media contact: Andrea Weber-Tuckermann