Neuroimmunology and neuroinflammation in autoimmune, neurodegenerative and psychiatric disease

Abstract

An ever-increasing collection of neurological human diseases are becoming appreciated as encompassing a strong immunological component in pathogenesis or regulation. This derives to a large extent from genome-wide association studies that have highlighted association with immune system genes, including those in the HLA and KIR regions. Along with the genomic findings have come insights from immune phenotyping and assays for autoimmunity. This is a group of disease processes that includes Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, stroke, narcolepsy, schizophrenia and psychosis. In most cases, these are diseases in which we assume that differential regulation of central nervous system inflammation may impact symptoms and severity. The specific roles played by the immune response in these disease processes is largely uncharted and will require considerable investigation.