Psychosis describes conditions that affect the mind and involve some loss of contact with reality. Conditions that feature psychosis include schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and severe depression. During a period of psychosis, a person will experience cognitive disturbances. This means that a person will experience abnormalities in their thinking, perceiving or communicating abilities and in their behaviour. These experiences are very common in society with ~8% of the population having psychotic experiences at any one time. Cytokines are key signalling molecules of the immune system that exert effects in the peripheral and central nervous system. Levels of cytokines that promote inflammation are increased in psychosis, suggesting that inflammation plays a role in psychosis. Neurotrophins are proteins made by the body to regulate production, growth & survival of a nerve cell. It is found that these neurotrophins are persistently decreased in patients with psychosis. The ApoE genotype is a gene found to be associated with worse cognition. This research aims to find a relationship between the levels of cytokines, the levels of neurotrophins, the ApoE genotype and cognitive disturbances in patients with psychosis. This is an important step to advance our understanding of the underlying cause of psychosis and to find new routes to recovery.
