Scientists from Columbia University Irving Medical Centre have identified inflammatory changes in the brain linked to PANS, PANDAS and Sydenham’s chorea, shedding light on immune-related psychiatric and neurological symptoms in children.
Researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Centre say they have identified inflammatory changes in the brain that may help explain the sudden psychiatric and neurological symptoms seen in children with PANS, PANDAS and Sydenham’s chorea. In a paper published in Nature Communications, the team reported that Group A Streptococcus infections triggered activity in microglia, the brain’s immune cells, and in cells that help form the blood-brain barrier, which normally protects the brain from substances in the bloodstream.
The study used mouse models, single-cell RNA sequencing and other analysis to track how infection altered gene activity in different brain cells. According to the paper, the immune signal IL-17A appeared to play a central part in the process, with the researchers linking it to blood-brain barrier disruption and inflammatory changes that could contribute to acute obsessive-compulsive symptoms, movement problems and other abrupt behavioural shifts.
The researchers also said they found blood markers in 23 children who were acutely ill, raising the possibility that the findings could eventually help with diagnosis or monitoring. Patient advocates involved in the project said the work may support a long-running view that the conditions have an immune basis, although the broader medical debate has not fully ended.
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